Actress Simratt Kaur Randhawa, who is grabbing eyeballs with her first big Bollywood role in Gadar 2, never thought that she would be cast in the Sunny Deol-starrer franchise when she got a call for an audition for a new project.
“I got a call for an audition from Mukesh Chhabra’s office. But I was not informed that it was for Gadar 2. Mukesh sir said, ‘You have to go to Palampur tomorrow.’ I didn’t even ask him about the audition and I went to Palampur with my mother,” Simratt recounted.
At Palampur, Simratt was surprised to see a Gadar 2 board on the car that came to pick her up. She couldn’t help asking the driver whether she was there for Gadar 2 auditions. “I thought it must have been for a friend’s character. But when I asked Mukesh sir about it after coming back to Mumbai, he said that it was for one of the lead characters,” said Simratt.
Even after the audition, Simratt thought that she wasn’t selected for the role as she didn’t get a call from the director. But after 20-25 days, she got a call from director Anil Sharma’s office for another audition and look test. “There was a rumour that they were looking for another girl. So I got disheartened and went to Anil Sir and asked him, ‘What do I lack?’ He told me to go home and sleep well. The next day, my mom called his office and they told her that I was finalised for the character..”
Gadar 2, which arrived in the theatres on August 11, is already one of the biggest films of the year as it has breached the Rs 200-crore mark at the domestic box office. Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakina’s (Ameesha Patel) son Jeete (Utkarsh Sharma) is all grown up in the sequel to Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001). Simratt plays Jeete’s love interest, Muskaan, in the movie.
Recalling a challenging shoot in Lucknow’s scorching heat, Simratt said, “We were shooting in Lucknow in a very hot temperature but we were shooting a winter scene with shawls and sweaters on. You have to look glamorous, but you’re sweating and feeling a bit dizzy. But then I used to remind myself that there are thousands of people waiting for this one role and you’re blessed enough to play it. So, don’t crib.”
This is Simratt’s first big role in Hindi films, although the 26-year-old actress has already done four Telugu films — Prematho Mee Karthik, Parichayam, Dirty Hari and Bangarraju. However, acting was not at all on Simratt’s radar of career choices. “I was into sports and wanted to represent India in Asian Games and Olympics. But life had a different plan for me.”
Simratt got her first Cadbury poster ad via a DM (direct message) on Instagram when she was only 16. “I did that ad for pocket money,” she said.
After the Cadbury poster was out, Simratt got a call for a movie down south. Though she kept rejecting the offer, the casting coordinator convinced her to go to Hyderabad with her mother for an audition. “I did my worst in the audition so that they would reject me. But they liked it. I was only 17 at that time and my mum signed the contract,” she revealed.
“When I saw the lights, camera and crew for the first time, I was sure that I won’t be able to perform when everyone is looking at me. But slowly I learned it and by the time the film’s shoot was over, I didn’t want to go home. I started enjoying the process. I also signed my second film in Telugu. And then I didn’t want to do anything else in life but acting,” she said.
Ahead of Gadar 2’s release, Simratt was trolled on the internet when a clip of her steamy scenes from the Telugu film Dirty Hari was posted on Twitter by a user. When asked how it affected her, the young actress said she remained unfazed by the trolling. “I have gone through depressing phases in my life where I felt like giving up. I was depressed to the extent that I shut myself in a room for a month. My parents helped me come out of it. Actually, that phase has made me strong. I didn’t have a therapist. I learned it on my own. People will try to pull you down as low as they can. I know where I am coming from and what my goal is. So, I’m focused only on that.”
