Khuda Haafiz, starring Aahana Kumra, Vidyut Jammwal and Shivaleeka Oberoi is all set to release this week. The romantic action-thriller is helmed by Faruk Kabir. In the film, the Betaal actress plays the role of an officer from the middle-east. The trailer looks promising and everyone is looking forward to watching the film.
Koimoi spoke to Aahana Kumra about Khuda Haafiz. We asked her about doing action scenes, what she liked about the story, working with Vidyut Jammwal and more. Read the full interview below.
What did you like about the story?
First and foremost, it’s not an out-and-out action which is something that everybody relates Vidyut with. It’s nice that you are going to see him in a very different genre. He recently did Yaara which is a different genre and this one is too. It’s nice to see him experimenting. He already built a genre around him. But I think he’s also taking the leap of faith and doing different things which is something that most actors should do. For me, this is a very different genre. I’ve never done an out-and-out action film.
It was very different as I am speaking Arabic in the film. I’m wearing hijab and playing an officer from the middle-east. It’s very exciting for me as I never expected myself to be in this place ever or never imagined myself in this place. I’m glad and grateful to the director that he showed the trust in me.
You are doing some good action scenes in Khuda Haafiz. We rarely see such roles written for femal actors or something like a superhero character in Hindi films. What do you have to say about the same?
It is happening slowly and steadily. I didn’t expect myself to do this ever. I never expected that I will ever get a chance to do action in films. Because I have not kept any expectations, I’ve been getting all this work. But having said that, yes, we are setting an example. Now directors are looking at stronger female characters. They are looking for characters that will pack a punch and not be this general damsels in distress who the boys have to come and save. I mean, for heaven’s sake, look at what’s happening across the country. We have female officers, we have female army officers, navy officers. We must tell stories of women also as they are important.
One director makes it and the other director is like ‘how did I not think of it?’. It also happens like that. They have not thought of it only because everybody is conditioned to believe certain things. Everybody here is also believes that the man is supposed to come and save the woman. But it’s other way round also. For example, our mothers save us when we are growing up. Mothers become superheroes in general day-to-day life. Imagine the kind of things they are juggling; they are juggling home, work, husband, and everything. It becomes so many things in one person. Isn’t that what a quality of a superhero is?
How was the experience of working with one of the best action stars of Bollywood? Did he give any advice on the sets of Khuda Haafiz?
I love him. I absolutely adore Vidyut. I didn’t know anything about him when I started doing the film. I met him for the reading for the first time. We had a casual sort of a reading. For me, he was this Commando who walked in because I know him through these films. The moment he walked in, it inherently came out ‘Are Commando aa gaya’.
At that time, I was more worried about getting my accent right as I had to speak Arabic Hindi. So at that time, I wasn’t paying much attention to anything. I just wanted to perfect my accent. But I remember, once we went to Uzbekistan and I started doing readings with him there, slowly we started working on sets. He’s very encouraging. When I was doing my action sequence, he came on set and he stood there. He said, ‘agar isne tujhe maara, toh tu bhi usko palat ke maar dena’. I was like REALLY? He said yes because the moment guys have to do action scenes, they go crazy. They start overdoing everything. His advice was if someone hits you, just hit that person back. I was like ‘oh, sh*t, I don’t want to get hit in my face’. It was really hilarious that he came and said that to me. It was nice that he stood there and he saw my action sequence. I think, he inherently wants his actresses to look powerful and massive on screen. You know like star power? He wants his actresses to have that.
Khuda Haafiz will release on August 14, 2020 on Disney+Hotstar.
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