'My choices are not based on people's expectations'

The thing that grabbed me is the fact that it is a true story. Also, it is set during the India-Pakistan war. I believe that a story about India and Pakistan will always be relevant because of the futility of the war that we have going on with Pakistan for the longest time. The journey of the character was also a factor but it being a true story tops it all.

You get this feeling that it actually happened, that all this really took place in a person's life at some point in time. When you read a story or get to know about one that really happened, it excites you and you feel you have to go and watch it. Stories like this become a part of our history. That was the main reason I wanted to be associated with this film.

I was given the book by Mr Harinder Sikka and the main reason I read it was because it hadn't yet released in the market. It was exciting to have it and read it before it came out. Otherwise, I believe in always sticking to the script that is given to me.

Actually, there aren't many differences in this book and the character. The book is very extensive but the movie is about this girl, so we have crunched the book. I believe it is better to pick out one story or plot from the book than try to incorporate everything. Then, there would be questions like book mein yeh hua tha, woh hua tha. There is too much information in the book.

For a film like Raazi, it was my number one priority to get my body language and dialect correct because of the period sensibility. That was 40 per cent of my job done. Since she was a Kashmiri girl, the dialect had to be clean but not too clean. So, first, I had to clean up my Hindi, all the nukhtas and the way it is spoken. I had no idea about any of that because I am this Mumbai girl who speaks Mumbaiya Hindi.

That was what we did first, and then we un-cleaned it by going backwards to get the dialect right. Like in Kashmiri, they don't pronounce 'bha' or 'gha' as we do phonetically. They don't say ghar, they say gar. They don't enunciate the 'h'. There is a line in the film where Sehmat says, 'Main toh ab wahin ki hun jaha mere garwale hain.' She doesn't say 'gharwale'. I found these nuances very sweet. These things bring a softness to the character.

Let's start with Vicky, who is fantastic. We all know he is a fabulous actor and for him to be a part of this film was essential because his character was a very important one. His was a very silently effective character, and to communicate the beauty of acting through silence is the toughest job.

Rajit sir is a renowned theatre actor so his command on screen as a father was very essential for me. And he is fabulous, he has such a great energy on the set. He is very passionate about his work. This is exactly like my mum because she is also a theatre actor. Passion is like the forefront of filmmaking and acting. If you lack that passion, then you lack that 'x' factor that sets you apart.

Yes, I do feel that pressure. But, if I make decisions based on that pressure, then I would be doing very different kinds of films. Then, I would want to only make people laugh or only make them cry. I want to do different things for myself, and that's the only way I satisfy myself.