Interview with Prachi Desai

We caught up with Prachi who plays the character of Naureen - Azhars first wife.

How is it working in your first real life based film? You are playing Azhar’s first wife – Naureen? No one has heard about her much.

My role in Azhar is quite important and yes it was difficult for research as no one knows about her. Everybody has heard of her but no one has seen her. I think this is the most interesting thing about my role. It’s like I am putting a face to the real life character on screen.  It was the biggest challenge.

It’s been quite some time since you have done a film. Should we say that you have become choosey?

I have always been very selective and choosey about the films I do.  Quality matters a lot to me.  The kind of people that I like to work with is important to me and I like looking at the bigger picture. I can’t look at things on a momentary basis. Doing good films has always been important to me. I want to be a part of a really good project like Azhar – just like Rock on 2.

What kind of roles would you like to do going ahead?

I would really like to do a love story. I would love to be a part of any romantic film.

Have you ever played cricket in your childhood?

Oh yeah! Of course I have! In fact I have some really fond memories of it. I have a bunch of cousins and they are all guys so we used to always end up paying cricket out of no choice of mine but it was always a lot of fun. I really miss that a lot. Thanks to Azhar I get to put my hands on the bat again after a long time. Cricket is one of those infectious things where if someone is playing cricket, you want to go and play along.

How would you define your shooting experience for Azhar?

I would say all in all the film has been a very impactful experience. This is the first time I am doing a biopic and where I am playing the role of Naureen who is so beautiful, she has been a mystery to the world. Everyone is aware of Azhar but Naureen has never been in the limelight. So it was extremely challenging. At the same time I learnt so much about life through this experience because there are all these assumptions and pre-conceived notions that we have about other people. It was only after meeting Naureen that everything changed. It was a completely new outlook that I had towards the film, to the role and to Naureen as a person. I think I have the best role in film!

How has it been working with Emraan and Nargis on the sets?

This is my second film with Emraan after ‘Once upon a time in Mumbai’. We do share an amazing chemistry on screen and I hope with Azhar it gets better. It was lot of fun shooting with him. He has amazing sense of humour.