It has been a busy few weeks for Sara Ali Khan who has had two releases in less than a week. After playing a character with over 50 shades of grey in the whodunit Murder Mubarak, Sara takes a complete U-turn to slip into the skin of real-life revolutionary Usha Mehta.

In Ae Watan Mere Watan, currently streaming on Prime Video, the 28-year-old actress plays a freedom fighter who, at 22, led the charge against the British by founding Congress Radio, an underground radio station that operated against all odds during the Quit India Movement of 1942.

On Wednesday at Novotel Juhu in Mumbai, a fresh-faced Sara — dressed in a summery white sari — chatted at length with t2 about the film, produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic and also starring Emraan Hashmi, how she has evolved as an actor and a person and what she has imbibed from her parents Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh.

Playing Usha Mehta in Ae Watan Mere Watan is a step up for you as an actor. What was your initial reaction when you heard about the extremely courageous story of Usha?

When I heard this story, I was like: ‘Yeh kaun thi? Inki kya kahaani thi?’ I was blown away when Karan (Johar, the film’s producer) first told me about it. I was like: ‘Wow, what?! A 22-year-old girl started an underground radio station?’ That in itself is a lot... and the way she did it and how she did it is huge. Awestruck was my first impression. The guilt of the ignorance of a history major who prides herself on her degree was the second reaction (smiles). And the third reaction that seamlessly slipped in was: ‘Agar main yeh play karti toh kar paati kya? Pataa nahin.’ And that ‘pataa nahin’ is the reason that made me say: ‘Ab toh yeh karna hi hain!’ Karan and Kannan sir (Iyer, director) were convinced that I would pull it off. And the rest is, well, our version of history! (Laughs)

What do you think it is about the psyche, the courage, the mental make-up of the unsung heroes of our freedom movement, much like Usha, that made them who they were?

There was an undying spirit that didn’t waver. Unke andar ek aag hoti thi jo woh khud nahin bujha sakte thhe. Hum sab mein bhi ek aag hoti hain. As normal, ordinary people I would like to believe that there is a fire in all of us.

Sara as Usha Mehta in Ae Watan Mere Watan, streaming on Prime Video

But what made these people a little different is that they were unable to curtail that fire. Even in the face of adversities where we would extinguish our fire if we had to, they didn’t. I would say they had blinders on, but that is too frivolous. I would say conviction, but that is also too frivolous. It is almost this feeling: ‘Bas yahaan mera jaahan hain aur aage mujhe kuch nahin dikh raha.’

Their idea was that desh prem se apne aapko itna bhar lo ke koi aur pyaar ki liye jagaah nahin rahein. That is what Gandhiji tells Usha in one of my favourite sequences in the film. Honestly, I don’t think I can fully understand what it means.

Was there anything about Usha that felt familiar or similar to you?

Her whole life is extremely unfamiliar to me. The stakes of the life that she lived are not something that I can mimic, understand and definitely not familiarise myself with. What I felt, maybe for the first time in my life, was a lot of respect for the character that I was playing. Not just gratitude for being able to tell the story or for being able to play Usha’s character, but just respect for the core of the human being that this character was. More than relating to her, I aspired to be like this character.

Has playing this character contributed to your skills as an actor as well as evolved you as a human being?

When it comes to my craft, it is you and the audience that will be able to gauge and tell better. I can definitely tell you that it has been instrumental in changing me as a human being. I now have that sense of self, sense of pride, sense of gurroor (pride) but it is not ghamand (arrogance). There is a difference. My mom (Amrita Singh) always says that and I am beginning to understand and feel that difference.

Usha is fiery but is also distinguished by a certain thehraav. What was the key to achieving that balance?

I feel that the only way to achieve thehraav — and I don’t know enough as an actor to be able to necessarily answer that but I am saying this as a human being — is through genuine conviction. That happened the minute Sara was convinced of Usha’s motivations. Thehraav, in my understanding, is the lack of extra gymnastics. It is the kind of performance where there is so much confidence and conviction that I don’t have to scream or shout to make my point. If you found thehraav in my performance, which is a big compliment, then this is probably the reason.

Costumes and make-up often help to ease an actor into a character. In Ae Watan Mere Watan, what did that simple cotton sari, small bindi and braids do to change Sara into Usha?

They helped a lot. There is also something about that material (of the sari)... just the way it felt on me was different. In this film, the hair and make-up are important but so is the production design — like the radio, the flag, the charkha, the costumes of not just me but everybody around me — which made the world palpable and real.

On a subconscious level, when you are not overtly glamorous (in a film), you don’t have to rely on these crutches … that possibility doesn’t present itself. In life, I have always noticed that when there is no possibility, that is when magic happens.

On the flip side, does not having these crutches, so to speak, make you vulnerable as an actor sometimes?

Actually, sometimes I think those crutches can take away (from a performance). In Atrangi Re (co-starring Akshay Kumar and Dhanush), my character had no frills. Of course, Chaka chak was a commercially well-shot song, but apart from that, it was pretty basic. I remember Anandji (L. Rai, director) would say: ‘Do this with your hair (gestures towards making a scruffy head of hair). You were in a rickshaw for half an hour, your hair can’t be looking perfect like this.’ That was also the case with Gattu sir (director Abhishek Kapoor) in Kedarnath (Sara’s debut film).

I have been lucky to work with makers who want to capture the being of the person that I play. If glamour or hair and make-up help that, then great. But when it is not needed, it is just not needed. Like it wasn’t needed in Ae Watan Mere Watan.

There is a moment in this film where Usha says that leaning towards what is right invariably means enduring pain in return. Has that also been Sara’s experience in life?

There is also a segment in this film in which Emraan (Hashmi, who plays Ram Manohar Lohia) and Usha are having a conversation and he tries to tell her the difference between sahi, satya and sachhai.

The correct way of being right is to get rid of pain. But to really feel that way, you have to have the desire to be so sahi that you are equipped to take on the pain that comes with it. I don’t know how many people can do that in this day and age.

They limit in doing what is right because of that pain or the fear that they may cause pain to someone else. What one needs to do is to say: ‘What is true is true, what is right is right... nothing else matters.’ I don’t know if I have the strength to do that all the time. It is definitely the goal and the aspiration but it is tricky.

With Murder Mubarak and Ae Watan Mere Watan, it has been back-to-back releases on consecutive weeks. Is that a good place to be in or does it get overwhelming sometimes?

It is the best place to be in. I love what I do. I am grateful to be given these opportunities. To be able to come to the audience with films like Murder Mubarak and Ae Watan Mere Watan a week apart is a blessing. I get to go home and tell myself: ‘Sara, you have tried your hand at versatility. You have done it honestly but the rest is not in your hands.’ That gives me a sense of peace, which is all that I am looking for.

Have you always been like this or have you evolved to this state of mind?

It was not there. But the interesting and tricky thing is that somewhere before Kedarnath, it was there and maybe even during Kedarnath, it was there. I don’t know if it was naivete, but now it is back.

Both these films are streaming releases. You have had quite a few direct-to-digital releases, including Coolie No 1, Atrangi Re and Gaslight. Does not having a theatrical showing take away from the experience and excitement of a new release?

With mom Amrita Singh

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (with Vicky Kaushal) was a theatrical success. Atrangi Re was given a lot of love on a streaming platform. The success of both gave me confidence and joy. They both gave me a certain degree of validation. As long as aapka kaam achha aur saccha hai, aapko phal mil jayega. That is most important. The rest is not in my hands. What can I even do? I can only tell honest and good stories. And, of course, there is the added advantage of more viewership on a streaming platform. I am grateful for that.

How has the nature of roles offered to you changed over the last few years?

Quite a lot over the last three-four years. To play Bambi (in Murder Mubarak) and Usha back to back is a testament to that. I am grateful for the opportunities and I hope that I can keep this up. Aisa nahin hain ki bas ho gaya toh ho gaya. Phir se Bambi karna hain, phir se Usha karna hain. Lekin alag karna hain, behtar karna hain.

It has been six years in films for you. Is this all that you hoped and dreamt it would be?

Honestly, yes. I think I have been living the dream for a while without realising it. I am happy to finally be awake to appreciate the dream, as contradictory as it sounds (smiles).

You always come across as being real in what is essentially a make-believe, hyperreal world. Has that been a difficult tightrope to walk on?

It has been the only ‘rope’ I have known and that rope is called Amrita Singh! (Laughs) Aap koshish kar lo nakhre lekar ghar jaane ki... ‘Oh, I am so tired, I am so busy, I had such a long day.’ She will be like: ‘So? It is your job na, you like your job, you are grateful for it. You are eating dal chawal because of it. Shut up!’ That is where we come from (laughs). But she will do it with a lot of love and with the correct mirror of: ‘Babe, you were not good.’ Or it will be: ‘Sara, I think Ae Watan Mere Watan is your best performance.’

When your mom says that to you, it means something and it is very real. The taareef is real, the grounding is real. It is the only way we do it. It is the only way we know how.

She has always been your reality check...

Hundred and fifty per cent! In school, I was a very good student but I was always very naughty. The teachers would tell my mom: ‘Iske grades bade achhe aate hain lekin she is not well behaved’ And my mother used to say: ‘I don’t care about your grades. You have to become a good person because I will not tolerate bad behaviour.’

What is that one trait from each of your parents that you are proud to have? And one thing in them that you are working towards having?

I am working towards having the purity of my mom’s soul. The reason she can so easily rely on her instincts is because she is a good person and I want to be able to get there. What I have from my mom, to a certain degree, is a sense of being original and true to who I am.

Because he has been such a celebrated actor for many years now, most people tend to forget that my father (Saif Ali Khan) gave more than 10 flops in a row at one point in time. But he had the perseverance, the need, the desire and the ability to constantly grow. That is something I want from my father. He is always better today than he was yesterday. What I have from him are his eclectic hobbies, interests, tastes and his sense of curiosity.

My favourite Sara Ali Khan film is... Tell t2@abp.in