Compiled bySwatiMisra

With the much-hyped ArjunKapoor and Alia Bhatt starrer ‘2 STATES’ releasing this week, there is a lot of speculations going in and around this film. The North meets South love story directed by Abhishekvarman, has ArjunKapoor playing KrishMalhotra and Alia Bhatt as AnanyaSwaminathan.

2 States is a love story between two individuals from two extremely different families and the story begins where most of the stories end, which is definitely the USP of the film. It is not just another ROM-COM but  has a lot more to it.

In an exclusive telephonic conversation with Nikita Sharma from Indus Age, Arjun and Alia, confessed to have loved each other’s company during the shooting of the film.

Arjun, who belongs to a Punjabi family in real life , is also  playing Krish Malhotra, a Punjabi character in the film. On being asked that whether a Punjabi background helped him to play the character in a better way, he said, “Its not about me playing a Punjabi, its about me playing the role of a boy who wants to marry a girl he loves, had it been a Bengali or a Marathi character, it would have required the same amount of effort, the same amount of vision, love and affection”. He added, “ I am not playing a stereotypical Punjabi in the film so there was not much I could take reference from my cultural backdrop.”

Talking more about the character, Arjun said, “Krish is a silent person by nature and is a very family oriented person. He is very emotionally attached to his family and believes a lot in fulfilling their wishes and living up to their expectations that’s why he decides to give up his MBA and takes up a job in a bank. Sarcastic by nature, very loving and understanding but he doesn’t like to say, he likes to show it”.

Alia who is playing the character of Ananya Swaminathan, a Tamil Brahmin, said she was a bit nervous as she thought she would have to learn a totally new language in a very short span of time. “I was eased when I got to know that Ananya is a modern Tamilian and she doesn’t speak Tamil all the time and doesn’t even have a heavy accent as she has been born and brought up in different parts of India. But in terms of the body language and the fact that she is supposed to be a Bharatnatyam dancer and a girl belonging to the south Indian culture, I had to work a lot on that”.

Alia Bhatt, who has been well-appreciated in her previous movies ‘Student of the Year’ and ‘Highway’, is nervous for being compared with her last performance in Highway. She said, “ I am nervous and that’s only because I am nervous to see how people will like my performance. Many people come up to me, call me and ask me if I would be able to match up to Highway but I don’t feel that’s right. In Highway I was playing a different character and in this film I am playing Ananya. This character would not know what Veera is doing. That’s something I don’t think about how I performed or how good or bad I was, I just think about giving my best at the moment and giving my 100%.”

When asked about her new character and how different it is  from the previous ones, she said that Ananya is a funky character and has a lot of sureness in what she wants to do in her life which is something that was not present in her previous characters. She also added that this character was very well sketched out and nothing much was left for her to explore. She adds, “Its not just a love story between two people but how they want to carry forward their story and get married. Its more about the two families and how they are convinced which is very different from other films.”

Arjun who has worked with Alia for the very first time in this movie said, “It was a fantastic experience working with Alia. I discovered a friend and a great actor in her and it was a really nice experience for me”.

‘2 STATES’ is an adaptation of an extremely popular novel by Chetan Bhagat with the same name.   When they were asked aboutthe difficultiesthey faced while pulling off a character which has already been perceived by the audience, Arjun replied that he never considered it to be an adaptation and honestly portrayed the character as a new one. Alia is, however, extremely nervous as she doesn’t want the readers of the novel to get disappointed with her character on-screen.

At present, Arjun has finished shooting for a movie called  Finding Fanny with Deepika Padukone and is currently working on a movie with Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpai called Tevar. Alia is currently working on another film, HumptySharma ki Dulhania,which is set to releasein July.

In the end Arjun and Alia thanked all their fans in Australia for their love and appreciation. Arjun even expressed his desire to visit Australia soon. He said, “I was pleasantly surprised to know how much people in Australia had loved and appreciated my last 3 films and I am really looking forward to coming to Australia soon.” Alia added,” 2 STATES is a movie that everyone can relate to. So, please go and watch the movie on 18^th of April.”

Interview courtesy – Mind Blowing Films.