Director Meghna Gulzar, who is helming the upcoming Kareena Kapoor and Prithviraj Sukumaran film Daayra, is known for films like Raazi, Sam Bahadur, and Talvar. During a recent chat with series Expresso for its 16th edition, the director spoke about the many collaborations she has had in the past. The candid conversation was held at Taj Lands End in Mumbai where she was joined with Kareena and Prithviraj.

During the session, Meghna Gulzar spoke about the many actors she has collaborated with, including Irrfan Khan, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Tabu, Vicky Kaushal, among many others, and explained the advantages and difficulties she faced while working with each of them.

‘Everything Irrfan did, he made me look good’

On Irrfan Khan, with whom she made Talvar, Meghna said the easiest part was that she barely had to direct him. “I really had nothing to do. Everything he did, he made me look good,” she said. The difficult part, she revealed, is something she still has not resolved. “I still don’t know which side of Talvar’s perspective he believes or agrees with,” she said.

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‘Connection with Vicky Kaushal is superb’

On Vicky Kaushal, who she directed in Raazi and Sam Bahadur, Meghna described a near-telepathic working relationship. “I don’t need to complete a sentence. He knows what I am going to say if I want him to do something differently. That connection is just superb,” she said. The difficulty, she admitted, lies ahead rather than behind. “After Sam Bahadur, it is going to be very difficult to find a role that is larger than that. And the desire to work with him is very much there,” she said, suggesting she is actively looking for a project to reunite them.

Vicky Kaushal played the lead role in Sam Bahadur.

‘Deepika Padukone is a deep actor’

She also spoke about working with Deepika Padukone, with whom she collaborated on her 2020 film Chhapaak. “She is a deep actor. She’ll never stay on the surface. She will go beneath the surface of the character, of the scene, of the story. That makes everything very easy. She’ll find layers even if there aren’t any in the writing sometimes,” she said. The difficult part drew a laugh. “She’s a bigger OCD than I am,” Meghna said, suggesting two perfectionists on the same set created its own unique challenges.

‘Alia Bhatt is spontaneous’

Meghna Gulzar described Alia Bhatt’s greatest strength and greatest risk as the same quality. “She is spontaneous and instinctive to a point where she can hurt herself,” Meghna Gulzar said. She pointed to a specific example. “The running scene in Raazi is where she would get hurt every day. That is the difficult part. She tends to hurt herself,” she said. The implication is that Alia throws herself so completely into a scene that her own safety becomes the director’s concern rather than the performance.

Alia Bhatt as Sehmat, in a still from Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi.

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On working with Tabu, Sushmita Sen

Meghna also recalled working with Tabu, who she directed in her debut film Filhaal. “The easy part with her is the performance,” she said. The difficulty was hierarchical. “She is already an accomplished, senior actor. To be telling her what to do and how to do it was not easy,” she said.

Sushmita Sen, who was also a part of Filhaal, and Meghna’s assessment of the actor was the simplest and perhaps the most complimentary. “What you see is what you get. Very, very not layered at all. The relationship was very easy,” she said. When asked about the difficult part, she paused. “There was nothing difficult with her,” she said.

Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Meghna Gulzar at Expresso.

‘Very little instruction required for Kareena, Prithviraj’

On Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran, her stars of Daayra, Meghna Gulzar spoke about both together. “The easy part has been their proficiency as actors. I don’t have to talk about that. There was very little instruction required,” she said. She added that both had gone beyond what she had written. “The interpretation they have given for their characters has elevated them more than I had imagined on paper, or between the lines. That’s the very gratifying part,” she said. The difficult part was not about performance but about responsibility. “The immense trust they put in me is very scary. That makes it difficult,” she said.

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Meghna Gulzar also shared what she learned about audiences from each of her major films.

Talvar: “They are more intelligent than we give them credit for.”

Raazi: “I didn’t see layers the way they did. I saw it when the audience saw it. When they take the film and make it their own, there is no stopping.”

Chhapaak: “Sometimes it can get difficult to convince the audience to come and see the film if they think it is a difficult watch. It is very important to keep them informed about the film. We are generally not comfortable watching disfigured faces.”

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Sam Bahadur: “Everyone wants a hero. You give a good hero, they’ll take it and run away with it.”

The 16th edition of Expresso was presented by AU Small Finance Bank in association with Taj Lands End, Mumbai, with BMW (Infinity Cars) as the Mobility Partner and Radico as the Celebration Partner.