From child actor to female lead in ‘Dhurandhar’: Sara Arjun is ready for fame

It was a question of how and when it would happen, said a confident Sara Arjun about her moment in the spotlight with Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar’.

Sara, who, for many, has been the finding of the spy thriller as the romantic interest of Ranveer Singh’s character, is not just another greenhorn starting out spectacularly with a blockbuster, but a seasoned actor with almost as much experience as her co-star, despite their age gap.

“Of course, I really wanted this to happen. But it was a question of how and when. I feel like all of those questions have been answered for me. I keep thanking the universe and everybody who’s given me this opportunity,” Sara told PTI in an interview.

At just 20, the actress has already featured in movies alongside Tamil star Vikram, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, late Irrfan Khan and Salman Khan. With ‘Dhurandhar’, which has emerged as a massive box office success, collecting over Rs 1,300 crore and counting, she graduates to a female lead role, something the young actress always knew would happen one day.

Her journey in the showbiz was ‘pure coincidence’, said Sara, who is the daughter of actor Raj Arjun, known for his supporting roles in movies such as ‘Black Friday’, ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Raees’, ‘Shershaah’ and ‘Secret Superstar’.

“My dad is from Bhopal and he came to Mumbai to pursue acting and was also trying his luck. This was before I was born,” she said, adding that when she was really young, she was spotted in a mall with her parents and started appearing in a lot of advertisements, including the one for a major shampoo brand.

She was just five when she was cast in the 2011 Tamil movie ‘Deiva Thirumagal’ where she played Nila, the daughter of Vikram’s Krishna. The memories of being on a film set are hazy, but Sara remembers being loved by Vikram. “I don’t have any specific memories from that, but I remember I used to call him Vikram Appa and I still do. I don’t remember specifics, but we shot in Ooty and it was beautiful.”

‘Deiva Thirumagal’ was followed by films like ‘Chithirayil Nilachoru’ (Tamil) and Hindi films - Emraan Hashmi’s ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ (2013) and Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’ (2014).

“‘Jai Ho’ I clearly remember because it was the first time I did any prosthetic work. But I didn’t get a chance to meet Salman,” said Sara, who played a schoolgirl with a prosthetic right hand in the film.

In 2015, she featured in ‘Jazbaa’ as Aishwarya’s daughter, whose abduction leads her mother to defend a criminal in exchange for her release. The movie starred Irrfan, with whom she later collaborated for 2017’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’. Sara also played the younger version of Aishwarya’s character Nandini in filmmaker Mani Ratnam's two-part epic ‘Ponniyin Selvan’.

“She (Aishwarya) was just so genuine with me, so helpful and she would take care of me like I was her own daughter. When we shot ‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’ and I met her for the first time, I kept thinking, ‘Would she remember me or not?’ But, of course, she did and she was very kind about it.”

Looking back, Sara said being a child actor has worked in her favour. “It’s a big advantage because I didn’t have any inhibitions at that time. I kind of fell in love with it, like I’ve grown up doing this. When you’re a child, you feel emotions so purely - sadness is sadness and happiness is just happiness. I tried my level best to hold on to the way I work without inhibitions and it really helps me.”

How did ‘Dhurandhar’ happen? Multiple rounds of auditions, replied Sara. Throughout the process, she didn’t know she would eventually be cast opposite Ranveer, the Bollywood star of hits like ‘Ram-Leela’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’ and ‘Gully Boy’.

“I give all the credit to Mukesh Chhabra (casting director) sir. I shot one of my first ads with Mukesh and that was for McDonald’s. After that, he called me for an audition and I had no idea that it was for ‘Dhurandhar’. It was just a normal audition, and it was a different kind of script, too. But after that, I forgot about it. Then, after a month, I was called back for the same audition, same script, but in a different costume setting. So, I gave, I think, six auditions of different scenes eventually. It took me a lot of time to process that something like this has actually happened. I don’t really tell people anything. The only people that I share whatever happens professionally with are my parents and then my brother, also, rarely. I felt really grateful and blessed. These are the only two words that can justify the feeling that I had,” she said.

In the film, a high-octane spy drama set against the backdrop of covert intelligence anti-terror operations in Pakistan, Sara plays Yalina Jamali, the daughter of a prominent Pakistani politician, who begins a romantic relationship with the much-older Hamza, played by Ranveer.

Asked about the debate around the age gap between them, Sara said it is justified in the context of the story. “The debate was addressed in the film very clearly. It’s mentioned in the film that I'm playing the age that I’m playing and the age that he’s playing. So, I’ve always found it very justified. It’s the reality of that story,” she said.

‘Dhurandhar’, which has sparked both controversy and curiosity in equal measures, also brings unprecedented fame for Sara. And with fame comes fear of losing privacy, social scrutiny and criticism. So, is she prepared for all of it?

“I was well aware that when fame comes, these things will come and as a child, I don’t know why, but I’ve always been like, ‘When will this happen?’ It’s never been a question of ‘If it will happen for me?’ I always knew what I would be signing up for and I’m completely okay with everything. I really like to protect my personal life. I do that well enough by speaking less about it. But other than that, whatever is coming, I’m completely fine with it. In fact, I kind of wished for this, for a really long time,” Sara said.