Alia Bhatt reveals how Pankaj Tripathi helped her master her role in Udta Punjab

Udta Punjab saw Alia Bhatt give one of the most nuanced performances in her career. The film, which went on to become a hit with fans and critics alike, saw Alia essay the role of a poor migrant Bihari girl who is forced to work for a drug lord in Punjab to make ends meet. Although the film did not feature Pankaj Tripathi, Alia revealed that the actor had played a crucial role in helping her prepare for her character in the film.

In a recent interview with Mid Day, the actress opened up about how Pankaj and she had worked on perfecting the character for almost a month. At the time, Pankaj had been renowned for his work in theatre, and not the silver screen, which was why Alia was able to work with him for almost a whole month. She recalled how she used to sit with Pankaj and the film’s director Abhishek Chaubey and work on her dialogues, despite her character not having a lot of lines.

She recounted how they worked on her Jhat accent and held workshops for her to perfect the body language. “He taught me to sit and speak the way the natives do. Then he made me do a lot of acting workshops, how to loosen the body, a certain expression which is dead eyes, open mouth”, Alia said.

The actress revealed that her role in Udta Punjab was the first time she decided to go in for method acting. She spoke of how she did not bring a phone to set, and there had been days when she chose to forgo having any sort of entertainment even when she was not shooting.

Udta Punjab, which also stars Shahid Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh, and Kareena Kapoor Khan, is available for streaming on Netflix.