Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain — the debutant stars of Loveratri — were in Calcutta last Thursday to promote their October 5 release. The Salman Khan production — Aayush is married to Salman’s sister Arpita — focuses on love at first sight and is set around the festival of Navratri. Over half an hour at Taj Bengal on Thursday, Team t2 chatted with the young actors on their film and the Salman factor. 

Priyanka Roy (Team t2): Welcome to Calcutta! You are here with more than a month to go for Loveratri’s release. What warranted such an early promotional trip?

Aayush Sharma: Because it’s our debut film, we wanted to reach as many people as we can. A one-month campaign is going to be a very short time and we have a lot of songs coming up. I’m in Calcutta for the first time and I really want to chill here. I want to see a tram…. 

Warina Hussain: My friends are from Calcutta. I love pani puri, so they told me to try phuchka…. We started our day with a visit to the temple (Kalighat). And we loved the yellow cabs. The city’s architecture is very cool… it has an old-world vibe. 

Priyanka: What makes Loveratri the ideal debut film for you?

Aayush: I always wanted to do a film that’s real and believable, yet also a commercial film; something that makes people smile and is not just a love story. That’s what Loveratri is for me. When you watch it, you will remember your first crush, the first time that you liked someone and how important it was to get their attention.... I’ve done it, as a teenager. We all have. 

Zeba Akhtar (Team t2): Is there extra pressure because not only is this your first film, you are also being launched by Salman Khan?

Aayush: There is a responsibility, for sure. But I don’t see it as pressure. I think we’re lucky that we have somebody like him. Otherwise, for debutants to make a mark takes a lot of time. I would thank him, that he’s there, because once he tweets our songs, we get traction. I think we always use Salman Bhai to our advantage. It’s a blessing to have him. 

Pramita Ghosh (Team t2): What do you admire about Salman? 

Aayush: His hard work. He’s one of the top superstars, but every day he wakes up with the same excitement to go on set. I have never seen him grumble about going to work. He always tells me, ‘A lot of people get paid per day because the actor shows up on set. You are feeling good, you are feeling bad, it doesn’t matter.’ 

Pramita: What’s the best advice he’s given you?

Warina: Enjoy yourselves. I think we took that advice a bit too seriously! (Laughs)

Aayush: He said, ‘Before you face the camera, you should be trained. Once you’re in front of the camera, it’s all about having fun. You cannot show stress on camera. Just enjoy yourselves’. 

Warina: I learnt from his positivity. I got a chance to meet him and to be launched by him… it’s a big thing. 

Rushati Mukherjee (Jadavpur University, MA second year and a member of the t2 Campus team): Abhiraj Minawala is a debutant director. Aayush, how does it feel to have the responsibility of the debut of two other people as well on your shoulders?

Aayush: We two (points to Warina) are the medium to sell the film. But there are so many other people who’ve worked on it. It’s my responsibility to ensure I promote and market the film properly. A debutant director, actress, actor and a fresh team bring in a lot of passion to make sure the film works. 

The Loveratri cake — with figures fashioned as Aayush and Warina as garba dancers — courtesy Paris Cafe — is brought in.

Team t2: Do you spot any similarities?

Aayush: The girl’s underarms are definitely like Warina’s! (Everyone laughs out loud)

Warina: My underarms are famous! (Laughs) We have dandiyas as well (points to the cake)… this is so cute! 
The two go click-click at the cake and then cut it. 

Aayush: (Spying Warina fiddling with his figure on the cake): Dude, don’t play around with my character, okay! Do anything with yours. 

On cue, Warina picks up the knife and slices off the head of Aayush’s cake figure and brandishes it gleefully for the t2 camera. 

Aayush: Oh my god! No! I hate you! 

Zeba: Aayush, what did you have to do to slip into the shoes of a garba teacher? 

Aayush: Before this, I had always thought that garba was only about holding dandiya sticks. When I went for my rehearsals for the first time, I realised that this is actually serious! I was like, ‘How can I play a garba teacher?! Maybe I should look for a different script!’ But we trained for four months and after that I got a hang of it. We had to look very authentic… I wanted people to watch the film and want to get up and dance! 

Zeba: Did you have to learn any crazy mannerisms or steps?

Aayush: (Points to Warina) She had to do an entire course on mannerisms! 

Warina: Oh yes! I am quite a tomboy. Abhiraj told me that I had to be girlie. The first day I went for garba classes, the teacher asked me to show how a girl would pull up her ghagra and dance. I did so (pretends to roll up her skirt)… and everyone was like, ‘Okay, a lot of work needs to be done here!’ 

Aayush: She was told to learn the adayki of an actress. I was like, ‘We need an actress, we already have an actor (points towards himself)… we don’t need another actor!’ We needed to make a romantic movie, not a bromantic one! 

Pramita: Do you believe in love at first sight like your characters Sushrut and Manisha in Loveratri, or do you feel one has to go through many relationships before one finds true love?

Aayush: Most people limit love to the romantic kind, but you can love your best friend, your kid, your mother, your brother… even people you work with… 

Priyanka: Warina just showed you love by cutting off your head on the cake! 

Aayush: (Laughs) Hers is the sadistic side of love! In school, I was such a movie junkie that whenever I would see a girl for the first time, I felt I was in love! Whether it sustained or not is a different conversation! (Laughs) 

Warina: I am a hopeless romantic. Love is everything, yaar! In our movie, we have shown love that’s very real. You see a boy or a girl for the first time, talk a little and then keep waiting for a text message…

Pramita: Must have happened in real life too! 

Warina: Yes! (Laughs) 

Aayush: Everyone’s gone through this… everyone! 

Rushati: Warina, what’s the transition from modelling to acting been like?

Aayush: The first few times we met, she was always so proper… she would sit straight like a rod. And I was like, ‘Can you just relax? You are not a model any more’. Doing photo-shoots with her was a problem. She was so good in all the photos that I would tell the person concerned, ‘She looks good in all, pick the one I am looking good in!’ (Laughs) 

Warina: Because I am not Indian (Warina is from Afghanistan), the biggest challenge was language. I am not very good with Hindi or English. And then I had to dance garba and also look Indian. Those were my concerns, but I think I’ve done my best. 

Priyanka: Aayush, did you always know you wanted to act?

Aayush: I think everyone at some point thinks they can become an actor. And then you get a slap on the face and someone says, ‘Okay, now relax!’ When I was assisting on Bajrangi (Bhaijaan), I kept wondering, ‘Will I be able to pull off acting?’ When Salman Bhai came out of the car on set one day and I saw the hysteria first-hand, I was like, ‘My god! I’m not coming out of the car!’ I didn’t know whether I was ready for that kind of love — and that kind of criticism. I had to believe in myself for the people making a film with me to have that belief in me. I assisted on two-three films before deciding that it was time to give acting a shot. 

Zeba: Aayush, you are a keen photographer. Where did the interest stem from? 

Aayush: It started on the sets of this film. I thought I was very good, but now when I look back at those pictures, I think they are terrible! When that phase was on, I read up and googled a lot on photography and then one day, I took a picture and realised I was a bad photographer. So Salman Bhai told me, ‘Don’t worry, whenever you think you are a bad photographer, just point the camera at me. I’ll make sure the picture is good!’ And yes, Salman Bhai always makes for good pictures. 

Zeba: Who do you click the most?

Aayush: My son (Ahil). He’s my model. Since the day he was born, he has a camera right at his face all the time because of me. Whenever I have some free time, I catch hold of him and say, ‘Now, model’… and he starts! 

Priyanka: How has Ahil reacted to seeing daddy on the TV screen?

Warina: Tell them what he calls you…

Aayush: He calls me Paapi! (Everyone laughs) It’s a Mexican word he picked up, he doesn’t understand the Indian meaning of it (laughs). Whenever he would be on set and I would be doing a romantic scene, he would go, ‘Paapi’ in front of everyone! 

He watches cartoons on TV and he knows his Mama (Salman) is a cartoon and now he thinks I am one also! The first time he saw the trailer of Loveratri on TV, I was sitting next to him and he was staring once at me and once at the TV. And then he went like, ‘Paapi?!’ And I was like, ‘Yes, that’s me!’ 

Pramita: He’s already a star! On her Instastories, Jacqueline Fernandez refers to Ahil as the ‘love of my life’…

Aayush: He’s a Casanova! 

Pramita: Who do you think he’s got it from — dad or uncle?

Aayush: I’m going to put it on the Mama! Ahil is friends with all the top actresses. I keep wondering, ‘Why 
was I not given that privilege?!’ 

Pramita: How is Salman with Ahil?

Aayush: Ahil is the youngest in the family. It’s but natural that everyone gives him attention. Arpita was the baby of the family and for Salman Bhai, even though they are brother and sister, he considers Arpita to be his daughter. And for Arpita to have a baby is like a huge thing. Sometimes I ask him, ‘Bhai, have you become a grandfather?’ He’s like, ‘Get out! I haven’t become a father yet, what do you mean by grandfather?!’ (Everyone laughs) Ahil can get away with anything with Bhai, which most of us usually can’t. Like if he is in a meeting, Ahil can go and bite him and ask him to get up. So we use him to get Bhai’s attention!

Priyanka: What’s the best thing about being married to Arpita?

Aayush: With Arpita, it’s always the friendship. We were friends first, and we are best friends now. She knows me inside out. She belongs to the film industry, so she understands the way things function and what it takes to be an actor. For the couple of months that I was shooting the film, we didn’t really meet much, but she was so understanding.

Priyanka: What’s a typical Khan family gathering like? 

Aayush: Everybody’s talking at the same time! You have to be very smart to figure out what conversation is going on… someone is talking politics, someone is talking movies or music, people are laughing and they are interchanging the conversations! We are always talking random stuff. Before I joined the family I used to be like, ‘What does Salman Khan talk about?’ It’s seriously funny and trust me, you wouldn’t want to know! 

Rushati: Warina, from your Instagram, it’s evident you like statement jackets and silver shoes…

Aayush: It’s all her stylist’s work. The boy inside her only likes her to wear black!

Rushati: Did you bring any of your own style to Manisha in Loveratri?

Warina: My character is absolutely girlie. She has flowers on her socks! I am someone who is in a ganjee, loves her gym wear and casuals. Manisha has fluffy bags and pink dresses. 

Pramita: Aayush, you recently attended Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’s roka bash. Did you give any marriage-related advice to Nick? 

Aayush: I just told them, ‘I am figuring my stuff out, you figure out yours, and if you learn something, then call me and tell me!’ (Laughs) On a serious note, I know PC very well and I am sure she will make a wonderful wife. I don’t really know Nick. The only advice that I gave was that, ‘Don’t ask too many questions, and don’t contradict your partner. ‘How am I looking?’ ‘Very good’. ‘Is this dress looking nice?’ ‘Very nice’. If they ask you what do you want to eat then ask them what do they want to eat instead, and then go where they say. Simple… end of conflict! 

Pictures: Rashbehari Das