Aditi Rao Hydari stars in Gandhi Talks, that released in cinemas last Friday. The dialogue-less film also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Arvind Swami, with its music being composed by A.R. Rahman. t2 caught up with Aditi to know more about her unique project and beyond.

What was your first reaction when you were offered a dialogue-free film? Was it surprise or excitement or a mix of both?

I wasn’t taken aback... in fact, I was really excited. Whenever something like this happens, a lot of my decisions come from the little five-year-old in me (smiles), coupled with the excitement and curiosity of something novel. This is a film which has been created with so much passion and so many years of very fine thought. Every detail that you see in the film is there for a reason.

Something like this has potential for legacy. The character (Gayatri) that I play is not just a love interest... she is a huge emotional anchor, there is a lot of nuance. The project seemed very exciting right from the outset and I wanted to be a part of it. I have always been a director’s actor and I was very clear about aligning with the director’s (Kishore Pandurag Belekar) vision in this film. Everyone in this film came in with their own mission and vision and that really rubbed off on me. I found it very inspiring.

You have said in the past that “good fear” fuels you to do better. Was that the case as well with Gandhi Talks?

Oh my God... 100 per cent! When I have that kind of fear, I go above and beyond what I am needed to do as an actor. I like to be pushed, I like to be challenged. I like to keep my ego and sense of self far away from a movie set. I am a creative person first and foremost and I like to come clean into a film and observe and absorb things around me.

Once in a while, while working on a project, one gets transported to a magical space where time stands still. We say so many things — we use so many words to convey so many things — but I always believe that the purest emotions come from a space of only action. It also comes from silence... of looking into the other person’s eyes and feeling what they are feeling. In this film, to be able to do that with my co-stars was really special. Our emotions, feelings and actions gave it more value than just spoken words.

Dialogues are such an integral part of a film as well as that of an actor’s emotive process. Did working on Gandhi Talks and not having the crutch of lines help you rediscover yourself as an actor?

Lines do make a film beautiful. Communication through words is beautiful, but I think mindful and thoughtful communication is what is most impactful. But in the world we are living in, I have realised that communication is not always mindful. Very often, words could be tinged with ego or malice, and very rarely does one get the chance to cut out the rest of the world and simply take in the beauty of silence. Gandhi Talks allowed me to do that. It was all about using one’s intuition and communicating through one’s eyes, and that was such an enriching experience for me as an actor.

Even otherwise, when I am in front of the camera, I use all my senses to emote. Sometimes, even the line of a song stuck in my head helps me as an actor. In Gandhi Talks, in the absence of dialogue, all my other senses naturally became much more heightened. There was some kind of a rhythm that organically fell into place.

Also, what helps me in every project is that I function like a five-year-old... I go into everything with a certain inherent curiosity. I like it when my heart starts racing suddenly because that indicates excitement and a certain expectation of the unknown. That keeps me fuelled as an actor.

In Gandhi Talks, I could not only hear my heart beating, but I could even feel the breath and beats of my co-actors... that is not an experience that one gets to savour every day. It was truly magical. I had to interact with them solely through my eyes and the purity of my heart and my emotions.

As humans, we tend to get divided on the basis of so many things — whether it is language, religion, countries... so many boundaries and borders and the differences that come with it. But most of us connect to each other through our hearts. And how do we do that? By telling that person a story in the way that he or she has to feel you, feel what emotions come to you when you tell that story. That feeling lives on in you and that is what is actually makes you.

Gandhi Talks apart, is there any other project so far where you have felt as alive on set?

I have struggled many a time and lost myself, but I have believed in cinema and I have believed that people would find me, and they have. That they will challenge me, and that has happened many times. I have felt alive as an actor on most of my projects... my directors create the space for me to be a fearless child on set. I have felt fear in many of the things I have done. I have experienced the feeling of being made to hang upside down in a jungle gym, but so many of my directors have taken me out of that jungle and turned the fear within me into something very creatively beutiful.

In that context, I must mention my first film with Mani Ratnam sir (Kaatru Veliyidai, 2017). I came into films, I came to Mumbai wanting to be a Mani Ratnam heroine and to be able to experience that dream come alive was magical. The people who I wish to work with, who I long to be pushed by, challenged by and nurtured by... I know they will find me. As of now, I am being slow and steady.

Is being slow and steady the new mindset?

Honestly, I don’t want it to be such. I love working, I love being on set. For those like us coming from outside — and I don’t say this with any kind of resentment — opportunities are not handed out to us on a platter. It is a fact. We have to prove ourselves, and keep doing it every time. And even after proving oneself, you will, more often than not, have to wait for the next good opportunity to come along. Despite success or failure, you are still waiting....

But I am someone who always finds music in the middle of noise. I work to lighten the darkness because I believe in artistic intention. I believe that talent lives beyond you. I believe that talent wins, goodness wins and I feel that the right people will find me. I have seen it happen to me and I know it will continue to happen to me. I don’t resent the fact that the opportunities are less... I believe that credibility and longevity are more important. Cinema is legacy, and that is what is important. So I keep my mind on the positives, I keep my eye on my wish list, on my dreams. I don’t like negativity and resentment at all.

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