I met him. When we got talking, we realised we had both studied at the New York Film Academy.
Later, Gurinder came down to Mumbai. She had met about 200 girls for this role. The audition was simple. I just had to chat with them while they were filming me. Three months later, I got the part. I was very lucky.
I attended a three-month acting workshop in Alkazisaab’s daughter Aman Elaana’s Dramatic Arts and Designing Academy (DADA) in Delhi. They taught us Urdu, Hindi and Hyderabadi well. I became a new character every day!
The shooting for Bride And Prejudice started in July 2003. The first schedule was in London for two-and-a-half months. After that, it went to Amritsar, Mumbai, Goa (I wasn’t in the Goa schedule) and Los Angeles. The shoot ended in November 2003.
It started with a one-week rehearsal and the entire cast was present: Ash, Namrata Shirodkar, Sonali Kulkarni, Martin Henderson, Daniel Gillies, Naveen Andrews, Meghna Kothari, Anupam Kher and Nadira Babbar. Gurinder wanted us to know each other well during that workshop so there would be no awkwardness during the filming.
The film is adapted from Jane Austin’s Pride And Prejudice. I had studied the book at college.
Text: Ronjita Kulkarni
Design: Uday Kuckian
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