Deepika adds beauty to ‘Piku’s character, says co-star Irrfan Khan

While many would call them an unlikely pair, Irrfan Khan was always the first choice to be cast opposite Deepika Padukone in Shoojit Sircar’s upcoming movie ‘Piku’.

While many would call them an unlikely pair, Irrfan Khan was always the first choice to be cast opposite Deepika Padukone in Shoojit Sircar’s upcoming movie ‘Piku’. Deepika plays the titular role of ‘Piku’, a responsible daughter, and Irrfan a young man who has to ferry Piku and her 90-year old father from Varanasi to Kolkata.

When asked about this unusual pairing, the ‘Vicky Donor’ and ‘Madras Cafe’ director, who accompanied the lead stars at the promotional event in Delhi, said, “Irrfan was indeed the first choice for this character; even before we started casting. When we were writing the characters, we knew Irrfan would play Rana.”

The chemistry, however, has had everyone talking. The song ‘Bezubaan’ sees Irrfan gradually falling in love with Deepika’s character; a part which Irrfan hasn’t shown to his audiences yet.

And the chemistry seems to have spilled offscreen too as the duo couldn’t stop praising each other.

When asked about Deepika, Irrfan said, “Any method or theatre actor could have brought crankiness into ‘Piku’s character, for she has so much to do, a certain annoyance. But what Deepika does is she adds a kind of beauty into Piku. It’s because of her that everyone would be able to connect with the character. She brings a loving element into Piku.”

‘Piku’ brings in a lot of firsts for the dimpled actress. Though she has earlier worked with megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 2011 movie ‘Aarakshan’, this is the first time that she was working with Irrfan Khan and Shoojit Sircar.

So, did Irrfan come across as serious or intimidating? “Not at all. I think that’s all a media perception. I also expected him to be very serious; that he would not talk, or look down upon me that she ‘is just a commercial actress’. But I didn’t find him like that at all.”

“I met him first time on the sets only and I guess, our relationship in real also went through the same process as it did in the movie. We gradually discovered each other. And I must say, he has a very comic and humourous side, which many people would not know. His comic timing is something that, I think, is really untapped,” Deepika opined.

The comic timing was quite evident too. From calling himself ‘Rakshas’ to saying that he likes ‘lungis’ and had started wearing them to sets too some time back, Irrfan was a far cry from all the adjectives he has often been described with.

Talking about the experience of filming ‘Piku’, Deepika became a little nostalgic and said that the whole team didn’t actually want the shoot to end. “When we were done shooting the last scene, we all were like ‘Achchha? Khatm ho gaya?’

We just didn’t want the shoot to end. It was such a wonderful experience working in this movie.”

‘Piku’ stars Amitabh Bachchan as the cranky and attention-seeking Bhaskor Banerjee, ‘Piku’s father, who has issues of his own – bowel movement and constipation. His journey through this and his relationship with his daughter define the movie.

Directed by Shoojit Sircar, ‘Piku’ is slated to hit screens on May 8 and would take on Sunny Leone and Ram Kapoor’s ‘Kuch Kuch Locha Hai’.

Source:: Indian Express