‘It’s been seven years since I did a movie. Now, I’m back.’
Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Soha Ali Khan gets to play a scary antagonist for the first time in her career, and she’s loving it.
“To play an antagonist in a horror is not something I’ve done before,” Soha tells Subhash K Jha.
What brings you back to the screen?
What brings me back to the screen is just the idea of being presented in such a wonderful way as Daasi Ma. To play an antagonist in a horror is not something I’ve done before.
I thought it would be a nice challenge to step out of my comfort zone, to wear completely new costumes, lenses, VFX, prosthetics, a different style of walking, a different way of talking with some investment into diction classes and working on an accent, smoking a hookah…
Also, I have enjoyed watching horrors but have never actually been in one.
IMAGE: Soha Ali Khan in Chhorii 2. Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Now that your daughter is somewhat older, do you have the time and inclination to resume your acting career?
Yes, I definitely have the time.
I think I always had the time. I just didn’t want to make the time because I found it very, very challenging to step away from her. I wanted to be there for the many milestones that happen in the first few years of your child growing up.
And I really wanted to be present for her and be involved in raising her.
Now she’s seven and in school for most of the day.
She has an active social life and it’s never as if she really needed me.
I needed her and now I think that I’m comfortable stepping away from her a little bit and taking on more work.
You said you enjoy watching horror films.
Yes, but I feel like the older I get and certainly after becoming a parent, my appetite to consume horror has gone down.
I feel very sensitive, especially to the sound in a horror film.
It makes me very uncomfortable but I still enjoy it.
I guess it’s like a kind of adrenaline rush.
I don’t enjoy roller coasters but I still sometimes make myself do it because there’s a high you get out of it.
So I enjoy the sensation of the anticipation of fear or something that might happen.
I have seen lots of horrors, whether it’s Psycho, The Shining, Stephen King novels that have been turned into films…
Then, there’s Insidious or Conjuring or The Exorcism of Emily Rose or The Exorcist.
Within Hindi cinema, some of my favourites have been 100 Days, which is one of the first Hindi horror films I saw. Then, Bhoot, Darna Mana Hai…
I’m glad to see that horror is making a comeback, in terms of pure horror and not a mixed genre.
IMAGE: Soha with Kunal Kemmu and their daughter, Inaaya. Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Was it tough to be scary?
No, not really. I think all of us have a darker side to our personalities and I enjoyed exploring that.
What happens with horror is that you get so much support from sound, costume, cinematography, lighting… and, of course, the script.
What was difficult were things like the diction and the body mannerisms because Daasi Ma is rougher than I am.
Her moral fabric is completely alien to me. So to be convinced or empathetic towards this character was a challenge for me.
But being scary not so much because honestly, I just put myself in my director’s hands. He had a particular vision of what this character looked like, he told me what to do with my face in terms of contorting my face and I did.
The rest was teamwork from makeup, costume, effects.
Should we consider this as a new beginning for you?
I don’t know if you should consider it a new beginning. I mean, I did two shows after becoming a parent.
I feel my work, my career has always been a part of my life.
Just because I’m not so visible on screen doesn’t mean you’ve gone away. You’re just doing something else.
I know it’s been seven years since Idid a movie so in that sense, I suppose I did go away. Now, I’m back.
But I did do two shows in the interim, Hush Hush and Kaun Banegi Shikharwati.
I have done another film. The shoot is complete and it should release later this year.
IMAGE: Soha with Inaaya. Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Was it tough for you to balance your responsibilities as a homemaker with your career, and do you feel you can pull it off?
I think women are good at multitasking.
We have to play many roles and wear many hats, whether it’s daughters, mothers, siblings, daughters-in-law, professionals, homemakers… there’s a lot going on all the time.
What we do need to learn is delegate.
I am one of those women who likes to be everywhere at one time and make everyone happy but that is impossible to do. So it is important to have a supportive community around you, professionals like my nanny who is so intrinsic to me achieving my dreams because she looks after my child when I can’t be there.
We should lean on that when we can because it is impossible to be everywhere at once and do everything perfectly.
Women generally need not be so hard on themselves. We don’t always have to be perfectionists.
I think the idea is, especially if we have to be in the workplace, the idea is to delegate and to rely on other people who can be there to help you at home.
IMAGE: Soha with her brother Saif Ali Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy Soha Ali Khan/Instagram
Recently, there was an awful incident in your brother Saif Ali Khan’s life. What has that told you about the safety of the family? How can celebrities avoid being easy targets?
Alert toh hum hai hi, kabhi kabhi aisi cheezain ho jaati hai, which are very unfortunate.
I think the sense of feeling now is very blessed, ki aur bura nahi hua, joh hua uss hadd tak hi hua, and everyone is fine.
