EXCLUSIVE | Adah Sharma: 'Did a lot of illegal things to prep for 'Sunflower 2', my Bollywood debut has a Shah Rukh Khan connect'

Adah Sharma had a great 2023, with The Kerala Story being one of the most talked about films that got the cash registers ringing at the box office. And the actor is in no mood to slow down. She has just been seen in Sunflower for its second season and is ’thrilled’ to be a part of the show now streaming on Zee5.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actress spoke about working with Sunil Grover , ‘The Kerala Story’ success, ‘Bastar-The Naxal Story’, and her grand Bollywood debut back in 2008.

Your character looks very mysterious after watching Sunflower 2 . What can fans expect who are yet to see it?

Definitely the unexpected because Rosie is this crazy, creepy, funny, cool girl. There are a lot of adjectives to her. I think everyone who watches her will see a different side of her. She’s super glamorous on the outside but she’s quite badass.

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After so many years of doing hardcore action and drama, how does it feel to do comedy and what were the challenges that you faced while shooting, while playing this character?

So, actually more than comedy, it’s a very complex role because she’s a different person every second. Like she’s something, she’s really sweet now and then she’s this scary person and then she’s really vulnerable and then she’s really evil and really mean. So, I really enjoyed that. I did a lot of illegal things that I wouldn’t be allowed to do in real life. So, that was fun. And no, I think challenges are there in all roles, but that’s the whole fun, you know, how are you going to approach something. How are you going to, you know, manage to make it look really convincing? Since this is a fictional setup, there’s more fun, you can play around so much with this.

How did you prepare for your character?

I started watching a lot of documentaries about serial killers and murderers because I also wanted to know what goes into the head of somebody who is crazy. I mean, things that you wouldn’t even imagine. And the main thing that I noticed was they are very calm and very normal on the outside. Like an actual sane person won’t be like, ooooh, I’m so crazy on the outside. They’re extremely sane, very normal, very meticulous, somewhat of a borderline OCD that things have to be really tidy, you should clean up after your times, things like that. And I think Vikas has now told me that whatever you do, play this character very genuine. Don’t make her low-key. Don’t play it like you’re any emotion like even if she’s being very sensual or seductive, don’t be like, hey I’m being so so. Just be normal. Be genuine because sometimes being genuine is the most seductive thing you can ever do. So things like that. So I think, yeah, I just followed that brief.

Your film The Kerala Story is now streaming on Zee5; what are some of the responses that you have received ever since it has begun streaming and were you expecting those massive box-office numbers?

I’m overwhelmed since the film is released in the theaters. And now on OTT. It feels really nice. I wake up in the morning and I find hearts, I find messages. The nice thing is that everyone sees a different scene and that scene touches them. In a movie usually you have like, this is my good scene or this is the… Here everyone has seen something else which has touched them and that is the story for them. It’s also so nice when I meet people at airports and all. It’s more than asking me questions anymore. People have things to tell me. The thing is we lost track of numbers and I thought the coolest part of the producer was he said it’s not the amount of money and that’s not how we want to promote this movie even. We want to tell people how many hearts we touched that is and how much awareness we brought and how many people went and watched the movie. But yes of course now if you say it’s made 303 crores you know that how many people went and watched your movie which feels very nice for an actor.

Bastar is coming up, again a very promising film and a crucial subject. What are your expectations and what can we expect from your character if you can tell us anything.

For Kerala (The Kerala Story) also I didn’t have any expectations and I think that’s the best way to go. I just hope people enjoy my performance.

I have to talk about your debut, 1920. I mean, it is still considered to be one of the best horror films ever made. I’m sure you still get messages for that film. What are your memories of shooting that film?

I really listen, I take it messages, memes, people make edits. There’s this edit that somebody made. I shared it on my page because I loved it so much. So you have Shah Rukh Khan saying, wo paltegi, palat, palat. And I’m standing like that, like normal me. I’m like, palat, palat. And there’s 1920, the Lisa with that scary makeup.

I thought that was hilarious. I think people have such an amazing sense of humour. And they make these really cool edits. So I thought that’s one that needed to be shared. It feels very nice when your work is appreciated. After 1920, a lot of people thought that my name is Lisa and I’m actually a foreigner who’s not even from here and I was dubbed in the film because they believed.