For Yami Gautam, every film is a learning ground

Titas Chowdhury

Aperformer can never learn enough, believes Yami Gautam. Her last two films, Uri: The Surgical Strike and Bala (both 2019) became game changers for the actor. Apart from striking gold at the box office, they became a strong learning ground for her, which helped her identify the process of approaching characters and slipping under their skins.Yami elaborates, “While filming Uri and Bala, I discovered a process about my approach to the craft and that entails going back to basics. Different directors expect different things, but

the basics don’t change. My basics tell me to be so thorough with my script, that I know every word by heart. I should be able to describe every scene.”

Talking about her homework for Uri, a film based on real events, she says, “I played an agent and that required me to do a lot of homework but the challenge was that most of the information was classified due to security reasons. Since it was a good script, it had all the answers in it.”

For the Vicky Donor (2012) actor, there’s nothing as important as being herself before the camera. “When we talk, there’s an organic breathing process that’s always there. The moment the camera is switched on, something happens deep down inside me, and I hold myself in the same way before the camera as I hold myself otherwise. When you’re playing a character, you have to breathe in the same pattern like you do when the camera is not on and everything will fall in place,” she explains.

She stresses on the importance of exchanging notes about one’s process of working with their co-stars. “I was having a chat with Vikrant Massey, who’s a terrific actor. It’s nice sharing your process with good actors. Directors and actors have so much to contribute, which you can eventually pick up,” she signs off.

ACTOR