Yami Gautam has always been seen with her long locks. Which is why when we saw her sporting a short-cropped hair recently it got our attention. And a quick question revealed the surprise. “This is for Uri,” Yami said, indicating she has joined the list of actresses who have sacrificed their hair for a film.

Why exactly did she need to cut her short? It was her director’s demand! “The director, Aditya (Dhar), said he does not see my character having too much time for vanity, to keep the hair straight and textured. She is an intelligence officer. Shorter hair looked sharper. Of course, it has to look neat and tidy because the character is an officer. The whole idea was to look sharper…,” revealed Yami. “And I agreed with him.”

She has not gone completely bald even though cutting her hair short was quite a painful affair. “It happened to me as well. I wondered what would happen to the other roles,” says Yami on if she felt the jitters before the hair was chopped.

“When I sat on the chair and they showed how short it is going to be, I just asked them to hold for a second. Looked at it and then it was done...,” she added.

For Yami, this is a way to show her commitment to an assignment she has taken up. “It is not just about the hair. If you do anything regarding your diet or hair to look the part, it is understood how seriously you take it… I don’t think I would restrict it to just hair or an actress. I think a lot of actors, Aamir is one of them, Hrithik is another, who would not mind transforming themselves,” she said.

Yami has been getting some great response for her new look. “Now when I meet people I am getting some lovely responses. I think it looks killer,” she gushed gleefully, showing off her look.