In an exclusive interview with ETimes, Sanjeeta candidly discussed her preparation for the journalist role, the positive impact of Jawan on her career, her favorite memory with Shah Rukh Khan, and more.
I started shooting for The Broken News and I got the role of Juhi Shergill in the middle of my shoot for Jawan. So, I was doing both simultaneously. Helana was this headstrong, loyal, very confident character whereas Juhi, at least in the first season, was a much more light-hearted, almost borderline comical character who did not take her work too seriously. And she was a bit of a coward even. However, in season two, she grows a lot more mature, a lot more serious, has more command in the newsroom, and even becomes a newsreader. So, I think my preparation for season two was just a lot of observational learning. I watched a lot of news reporters and the way they would look into the camera and report. Sometimes even reading the news, having that poker face, but at the same time being very expressive. And it was actually a lot of fun. I loved preparing for this character.
So far in my career, I have gotten very lucky with the kind of people that I’ve got to work with. Sonali ma’am is just such a strong woman and such a humble human being. You know, I’ve grown up watching her movies and she’s just been around for so, so long. And, you know, Ameena’s character is very much like her in real life. She is someone who perseveres through things for the right reasons. And she always has her heart in the right place. And she is so lovely to talk to and so easy to talk to. So much to learn from her there. And Jaideep sir is someone who has built themselves up from ground up, you know. He never had a silver spoon. Everything he has now is because of his hard work and raw talent. And he’s like a crab, you know, like a hard exterior and soft interior. He’s very funny. So, yeah, and just such a good actor. Gosh. And Shreya, she’s like my best friend. She is my best friend. We bonded like from day one. She’s someone I look up to. But at the same time I can confide in and just be really, really lame with as well. Our sense of humour is the same. And I hope that this friendship lasts a lifetime because it definitely has the potential to. And that’s all. She’s like sunshine in human form.
First of all, I have realized that social media is not the best place to rely on your dose of daily news. It can always be fabricated. It can always be not well sourced. And of course false, completely false as well. So I feel like when I come across something which boggles my mind, and I want to know more about it, I always read from different sources. What is everybody saying, I try to find a credible source, I try to find actual evidence for it before believing it. And before sharing it more, most importantly, because what people tend to do is that they come across something, it’s a crazy headline, and then they just share it. And that’s how false news spreads, they share it without actually checking the sources and facts. So I try not to do that.
Atlee touches Shah Rukh Khan’s feet at an award function, video goes viral
Absolutely. I think it’s a threat not to myself as yet, I feel, but definitely to people whose faces are much more well known in the world. Deepfake videos are looking more and more real lately because of AI. And that can be such a threat because I feel like these things can be used as evidence against you for, like in court or something, you know, like if you, people can threaten you with these things. And that’s just the worst way to use artificial intelligence. It can be used to clean up our oceans or beaches or figure out garbage disposal. I don’t know. But not this. This is the most unnecessary evil that we have right now.
Being a part of something as historic and epic as Jawan is just such a blessing. I had no idea that it would do this, that the outcome would be this. Because when you’re in the process of making a project, you don’t think of the outcomes. You’re just doing it for the love of it. And now I can see how epic it’s been. Professionally, things have changed in the sense that of course it’s given my name a face value. Before this I was known only as a musician. And now some people don’t even know that I’m a musician because they all think that I’m an actor. But I’m actually primarily a musician who’s become an actor much later in life. But it’s definitely made me a lot more known than before. Which automatically helps my musical career as well. And the kinds of roles that I’m getting are all primary or leads. So that is awesome because I want to tell stories in larger capacities now.
Personally, I feel that I would have missed out on so much on the greatest friendships of my life if I had not been in Jawan. Because the six girls, my girls, are my best friends. And we are like such a tight girl gang now. And again, just like Shreya, I met these girls before Shreya. But the girl gang keeps growing and these are people that I genuinely care about. We go to each other’s concerts or shows and we’re always there to support each other. So personally, Jawan gave me some of the greatest friends of my life. And I’m just so grateful for this entire project. Also, Jawan was my first film in which I’ve also sung. So it was the best of both worlds coming together. So this project will always be the most special.Let’s absolutely all together collectively manifest Jawan 2. Officially there is no word of course, but there are rumours. So I’m not going to fuel them, but I’m going to hope that they are true.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any scenes with Deepika ma’am, so we didn’t meet on set. But Shah Rukh sir was always there with us, you know. If the scene was taking too long and we were all just sitting and waiting, he would come and sit with us. He would make me personally feel comfortable if I was feeling jittery about the next scene, given that it was my first film and he knew that. He was also always there to just catch up with, you know. If there was any question in front of someone as iconic as him, you would always have questions to ask. He would just be so generous with his answers. He would indulge all of us.
Nayanthara was someone who just, her aura commands so much respect, you know. She was also someone who we sat in a circle with and just bombarded with questions and she would always indulge us with her answers. And there’s so much to learn from both of them, you know.
And my unforgettable memory with Shah Rukh sir has to be one where, basically his manager Pooja told him that I’m a musician. And the next day at dinner, when we were all having dinner together on set, he brought a guitar from home and a mic. And he was like, Sanjeeta, I heard you’re a musician. Why don’t you sing for all of us? And I sang for all of them. And they appreciated it so much, loved it. And I thought that the act of getting a guitar and a mic just for me to sing was so thoughtful. You would never expect someone like that to remember these little details. But that happened and then that night at least he came up to me and he said a compliment which I’ll never forget. He said, Sanjeeta, the goddess is in your voice. And I was floored. And that day, that night, because of what I had sung, and because of Shah Rukh sir giving me the opportunity to sing for everyone, that night was where the seed was sown for the idea that I would sing for Jawan as well.
I try not to measure and think about these things much But if I really had to, I think I would measure it in the privilege of choice and opportunities Because in the initial stages of your career, you will always say yes to anything and everything Because you’re desperate to, say in my case, perform as much as possible Or do as many roles as possible Because you have that hunger to just do anything and everything Because you’re desperate for it You also want to experience as much of it as possible But when you get a little more successful, you choose the kind of work that you want to do And from the opportunities that are presented to you Because you want to make your path a little more defined And you want to only do roles that interest you And the stories that you would want to tell So I think, yeah, the privilege of choice and opportunities
I wish to be remembered as someone who you can trust to be vulnerable in front of and someone who works hard to achieve their dreams.
Well, off the top of my head, it’s going to be Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Jasmeet Reen, Naseeruddin Shah sir, and Deepika Padukone. But not just Bollywood. I want to work in regional cinema as well. I want to branch out to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali film industries and everyone is telling such great stories. I want to be a part of all of it. I think I have the potential for that and I’m just going to shoot my shot here, but Timothee Chalamet, please make it happen.
The next few projects that I’m working on are a Bengali film in which I play the protagonist and I’m really excited for everyone to see that. It’s my first Bengali film. You’ll also be seeing me in Django on Amazon Prime and Adbhut by Sabir Khan Films whenever those release. Musically, I’m working on my next single called Ratiya, which is a song that mixes Afrobeats with Indian classical and Hindi pop. And I’m working on many other collaborations with independent artists. And yeah, this is what I’m really, really looking forward to this year.
