Performance as Naina came from my heart in ‘A Thursday’: Yami Gautam
Hyderabad: Yami Gautam Dhar has, once again, proved that she isn’t just made for girl-next-door roles. After her critically acclaimed performances in ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ and ‘Bala’, the actor has stunned the audience yet again with her gritting portrayal of the character Naina Jaiswal, a playschool teacher who takes 16 kids as hostages in […]
Hyderabad: Yami Gautam Dhar has, once again, proved that she isn’t just made for girl-next-door roles. After her critically acclaimed performances in ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ and ‘Bala’, the actor has stunned the audience yet again with her gritting portrayal of the character Naina Jaiswal, a playschool teacher who takes 16 kids as hostages in the thriller film ‘A Thursday’.
Written and helmed by a relatively new director Behzad Khambata, the film that is being compared to Neeraj Pandey’s iconic project ‘A Wednesday’, also witnesses Neha Dhupia as ACP Catherine Alvarez and Atul Kulkarni as Javed Khan.
Yami and Behzad opened up about the Disney+ Hotstar film that is currently receiving rave reviews from the audience and critics. “We are celebrating the fact that people are in love with ‘A Thursday’ and are associating with the lead character and what the film stands for. We are all feeling very proud because earning respect for a film is much harder than making it a box-office hit,” shared Yami.
Yami aced the role of a maniac kidnapper in the film, and her expressions and dialogue delivery were completely hair-raising. “In a thriller, there is no scope for making mistakes. There was a marathon of emotions while I was preparing for the role. It was very intense and heavy to step into Naina’s shoes – I had to be extremely thorough with the script, and with each and every moment of Naina. My performance as Naina came from my heart,” Yami said.
Behzad got the idea of the film back in September 2019, and the director along with his co-writer wanted to make sure it was a woman who played the role of the kidnapper.
“We always see only men in hostage films, so we wanted to change the narrative. Then we started building on the story – what will happen when a woman takes children hostage, how will the police react, will it become national news and will the Prime Minister (portrayed by Dimple Kapadia in the film) care to interfere? You will have to watch the movie to know the message that it gives out in the end and how relevant it is to the present world,” shared Behzad.
About casting Yami in the titular role, he says, “I’ve known Yami to be a girl-next-door actor – the quintessential good girl, so I wanted to give her a gun and see what she could do. Although people would have thought it to be an unconventional choice, damn did she pull it off! Now, I’m hoping she gets more heavy and grey roles.”
About working with Neha Dhupia, Yami shared, “When I first met her on the sets, we both congratulated each other and Behzad had a facepalm moment because I was newly married and Neha was pregnant and he was like ‘what were people up to in the lockdown period?’ We all had a good laugh.”
Meanwhile, Yami has films such as ‘Dasvi’, ‘OMG2’, and ‘Lost’ in the pipeline.
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