I’m a diehard Sridevi fan: Sara Ali Khan

Budding starlet talks Bollywood debut, venture into acting and her role model

Sara Ali Khan, the daughter of actors Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, is on the road to fame. From giving tough competition to superstar Ranveer Singh with her impressive dance movements in Aankh Maarey to her mind-blowing photoshoots, the 23-year-old budding starlet is rapidly climbing up the ladder, reported The Hindu.

It was probably somewhere between performing Greek plays by Aristophanes at Columbia University and articulating heavily Sanskritised Hindi dialogues in her recently released Bollywood debut Kedarnath, that Sara caught the attention of the paparazzi and her ever-burgeoning fan following.

While being born into a star family has its pros and cons, Sara reveals she takes everything in her stride.

PHOTO: INDIA TODAY

In the days leading up to her first film’s release, the actor also finds herself in the spotlight – whether it’s to tackle controversial claims about Kedarnath promoting ‘love jihad’ or handling rumours about a rivalry with her contemporary Janhvi Kapoor.

Discussing how she has handled the amplified interest in her life, Sara said, “I pay no heed to it. I think all of that is as much as you take on – it is what it is. You can’t change the culture or the times, but can just move with them and adapt. I just hope to be able to do that.”

While Sara always knew she would be an actor, there was a time she thought of becoming a lawyer and that led to her completing a double major in history and political science from Columbia. “I studied as many subjects as you can in a liberal arts school. But I realised that the rush I feel when I’m performing theatre is incomparable to any other emotion that I’ve felt in my life.”

PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Sara’s description of working on Rohit Shetty’s upcoming film Simmba seems like a cakewalk. She shared that she watched the original Telugu film Temper, “but not as a reference point.” Instead, she always turned to Shetty for guidance. “He knows exactly what he wants. So, if you have a director like Rohit Shetty, excuse me for sounding complacent, but very little homework is required,” she added.

Wrapping up the conversation, Sara spilled the beans on whose craft she looks up to. “I’m a diehard Sridevi fan. When I was shooting my romantic song for Simmba, I was stalking Mitwa (a song from Sridevi’s 1989 film Chandni) and saying, ‘Oh! She was also in Switzerland and I’m also in Switzerland,” she said, breathlessly before her tone dropped, “and the comparison ended there.”

Sara continued, “The same beautiful woman has entertained us in Hawa Hawai and made us sob in Sadma. She was outstanding.” With two disparate films coming out this month – Kedarnath and Simmba – Sara reveals that, much like her idol, she seems to have a penchant for varied choices.