Deepika Padukone took inspiration from past relationships for role in 'Gehraiyaan'

Indian filmmaker Shakun Batra’s upcoming film Gehraiyaan will feature Bollywood beauty Deepika Padukone in a never-before-seen avatar, with the star set to bring a “raw, naked and vulnerable” character to the big screen. Speaking at the trailer launch earlier this week, Deepika, who is working with Shakun for the first time, revealed she had to dig deep to essay her character, Alisha, in the project. She confessed the part was difficult, stating that it required her to be “emotionally naked”. Times of India quoted Deepika as saying, "I had to dig deep and revisit places that weren’t pleasant. I had to revisit experiences from my own life, as well as my experience of dealing with mental health issues. All of that helped me play this character that needed to be raw, naked and vulnerable.” Batra mentioned that he tried his best to make Deepika’s personal experiences a part of the film. "We spoke about her anxiety, her experiences in different relationships and how we can make that a part of the story. I was trying to draw her real self into the character," he shared. Batra expressed confidence in the fact that Gehraiyaan’s storyline is different from anything Bollywood has ever produced before. "Here, infidelity is not under the garb of finding that one true love. I am trying to explore relationships that step outside the conventional boundaries,” he said. Producer Karan Johar added, "The trailer scratches the surface but there is a lot more than meets the eye. At the face of it, you might think it is a film about infidelity-based relationships but it is not just that. It is talking about so much more, choices and consequences of so much more. He went on to add, "Gehraiyaan is a film about the power of love, lust and longing by the millennials and how they react to love, lust and longing and how it is about the choices that they can make. Sometimes lust takes precedence over love, sometimes love takes the bashing for its innocence." The film that also stars Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa is slated for an OTT release on February 11.