Adah Sharma Interview on why she did films like Kerala Story and Bastar

It would be apt to call Adah Sharma a hustler. She acts, sings, writes, plays instruments, does charity work and then she has some time to just goof around. Ready to drop her first song, The Kerala Story actress Adah Sharma who’s been a part of some of the most controversial projects in the recent past spoke exclusively to us about how she reacts to being labelled “the controversy queen”.

Here are the edited excerpts of the chat:

Q: Hi Adah, you’ve been a part of some films that have attracted a lot of chatter on social media. Did you know that these films like The Kerala Story or Bastar would blow up like this?

A: If a film does well, there is chatter, so I react with having a lot of gratitude in my heart. No, when I signed up for Kerala Story I did not predict that it would be the highest female grossing film of all time. I thought we were making a small film for festivals.

Q: From your debut till Bastar, your filmography doesn’t conform to a single genre. What do you see yourself doing next?

A: I'm one of those fortunate actors who the audience accepts in different roles. Also I'm lucky that filmmakers see different characters in me. I'm so fortunate that the same makers who made The Kerala Story and cast me as an innocent victim, in less than a year, took me for Bastar where I play a tough soldier, a saviour.

Q: Where do you want to see yourself in the next 5 years?

A: I have perfect vision 6/ 6 but even I can't see that far. Hopefully I continue to see myself in reflections, in the mirror.

Q: Do you fear being labelled the controversy queen because your two big films, The Kerala Story and now Bastar has attracted a lot of negative attention?

A: I don't have such fear because the audience is very intelligent. In less than a year from the Kerala Story’s release, I had Commando and Sunflower season 2 release too. Both were very different roles and genres.

When a film is banned, there will be people saying it shouldn't be banned and there will be people who support the ban. We live in a democracy which we should celebrate.

Q: You’ve done a lot of serious content, when will we see you in an ultra romantic film?

A: For me Bastar is an ultra romantic film because it is about loving your country and being willing to sacrifice your life for the lives of others. That's the epitome of real love I feel.

I've done a few romantic films in the south – romantic in the boy-girl way. My debut in Telugu was Heart Attack, which was a romantic film and I recently did Meet Cute in Telugu as well which is as romantic as it gets like Notting Hill.

Q: What about period dramas, have you seen Heeramandi. Do you think you'd enjoy doing something like that?

A: I would enjoy every genre. I don't discriminate. I started with a period horror film called 1920 which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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Adah was recently in the news as she collaborated with PETA India to gift a mechanical robotic elephant called Baladhasan, to the Pournamikavi temple in Kerala.

Adah Sharma has been a part of projects like The Kerala Story, Bastar: The Naxal Story, Sunflower 2 and Commando. Bastar is currently streaming on ZEE5 Global.