'I felt emotionally burnt out post 'Chhapaak'

Mumbai: Deepika Padukone says her upcoming film Chhapaak has been her toughest and most emotionally taxing project till date.

Directed by Meghna Gulzar, the film is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agrawal, played by Deepika and also stars Vikrant Massey.

Deepika said until Chhapaak she thought doing a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film was emotionally difficult. "With him it's not just about the character or film but everything that goes in making it. So by end of it you're exhausted for various reasons.

"With Chhapaak, the process was exhausting. We had to get the prosthetics done for like three hours and another hour to take it off. Emotionally I have never been as burnt out as I felt after that," she said.

Deepika, who turns producer with the project, also shared how she got the character out of her system.

"On the last day I asked Meghna to get made an extra piece. We got that, only for me to burn it at pack up. It was a hospital scene, we finished that and I took off my face (prosthetic), had a shower, took this extra piece, went to a corner, threw alcohol on it and burnt it. I watched it burn and stood there as I needed to see it burn completely. I wanted everything to become ash. I stood there till that entire process was over and only then felt a part of it had left my system, my body. But it's not entirely possible as none of these characters leave your system. As of now, this has been the toughest film I've done," she added.

Chhapaakis scheduled to release on January 10, 2020.