Adah Sharma divides her time between Hindi and Telugu films. She is best known for being the main lead of The Kerala Story, which earned ₹375 crore at the box office, making it India's highest-grossing female-led film of all time. Currently, Adah is seen as an investigative journalist in Governor.
Do you see yourself as more of a Telugu or Hindi actress?
If I answer that question, half the internet will be upset with me and the other half will be upset that I'm not upsetting enough people. I've been fortunate to work in different industries and very fortunate to get accepted everywhere even though my choice of roles has not been conventional. I debuted in Hindi cinema with 1920. The first time the audience saw me I had black teeth and they still accepted me. In the Telugu industry, I'm most known for Heart Attack and Kshanam. The roles I play in both are unusual but the audience gave me so much love. I think of myself as a serial trespasser, who keeps entering different film industries and now I'm doing a film in another language. So, I'm very excited about that too!
Governor gives you an opportunity to play a journalist in the 1990s. How much research did you do to get it right?
I have a cameo part in the film but for me whether it's the title part or just a few days shoot I like to do my research. I watched interviews of journalists from the 1990s and realised the biggest difference was that they couldn't just Google everything in three seconds. If they wanted information, they actually had to leave the house, do actual detective work. No social media, no 'sources say' WhatsApp forwards. I enjoy doing research for all parts and I get a little obsessive. I remember during The Kerala Story, I used to sit up all night watching terrorist-confession videos and footage of ISIS camps. During Sunflower, I visited dance bars in disguise.
This is your fifth film with the same banner. How high is your comfort level with the team?
I'm almost on my way to breaking Akshay Kumar and Vidyut Jammwal's record number of films with the banner! Two or three films more and I should get there. It's now more like going to a family function than to a movie set.
What was it like to have Manoj Bajpayee as your co-star?
It felt like being in an acting workshop where I also happened to be getting paid. He's so effortless and just seamlessly gets into every role he plays.
Your forthcoming projects?
On social media my comments section is full of 'When is your next horror film…pls do horror'. For all 1920 fans, there is horror coming up. There is also an actioner, there's a bilingual film too and a biopic.
