‘It changed the way India was perceived world over’: Lara Dutta on Balakot airstrike, her role

NEW DELHI: Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe crown in 2000 and since then, she has paved the way for herself in the film industry and has been part of some of the incredible films including ‘Andaaz’, ‘Kaal’, ‘No Entry’, ‘Bell Bottom’, among others.

The actor is all set to entertain the audience with her next project, ‘Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond’ alongside Jimmy Shergill. Directed by Santosh Singh, the series also stars Ashutosh Rana, Ashish Vidyarthi, Prasanna and many more.

Lara plays a power broker in the series which is based on real-life events and what happened behind the scenes of a major defensive operation.

The upcoming web show decodes modern warfare, which is not limited to physical boundaries but also includes social media, digital techniques, and clandestine political movements with the potential to transform geopolitics. The series is based on true events that shook the nation in 2019.

She said, “It is based on true events that rewrote the history in many ways of our country. So, the Pulwama attack had its own repercussions with the Balakot airstrike. But it goes beyond just these isolated incidents because it puts India in a world perception as a power that would refuse to back down and I think India took a very, very strong stand”.

“And it changed the way that India was perceived the world over from a military point of view, from a political point of view from a world power point of view. And very few people within the country know what went on behind closed doors, that high tension, the urgency of those situations when they were happening, what were they what they felt like”, she added.

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The ‘No Entry’ actor said that with the changing times wars are not just fought on the battlefield but they are fought “within media houses” and the “walls of government”. The series portrays all these facets of the new war.

She shared, “‘Ranneeti’ also shows that in today’s day and age, wars are not just fought on battlefields, they’re not just fought on the war front, they’re fought within media houses of every country, it’s fought within the walls of the government, it’s fought within the walls of Parliament. And that is what the new war is. I think that the narrative today on where war is concerned has completely changed. That is what this series is all about. It is, to educate the civilians that war is not just about what happens in a war zone or on the ground”.

She talked about playing a powerful character on-screen and shared her experience of being part of the show, inspired by real-life events that shook the nation.

“I think Manisha Sehgal is quite a fantastic female character. It’s important to see, women playing characters like this, because these characters are otherwise mostly played by men. She(Manisha) is a powerful figure within the entire political defence, landscape in the country. She is somebody who spins the narrative that the country wants the world to see and perceive”.

Lara shared details about the character and the challenges of portraying it on-screen, saying, “It’s quite a challenging sort of character to play and portray on screen, especially as a woman to hold my own against other equally powerful characters that are played by men on the show”.

She is sharing screen space with Rana, Ashish and Jimmy. She said it was a great learning experience for her. “At first, slightly I felt intimidated about having to share space with Ashutosh, Ashish and Jimmy. They are such wonderful craftsmen. But, it was an absolute pleasure”, she said.

Lara continued, “Jimmy is very soft-spoken and he is quieter. So I almost felt like I bullied Jimmy a little bit on set and then the other way around he’s such a such a gentleman, such a wonderful person to work with the same way Ashish also. It was a masterclass watching them work together. So it’s such a joy and a privilege to be with actors like that and to perform alongside them.”

Apart from ‘Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond’, she has several other projects line up. She will be seen in ‘Welcome To The Jungle’, ‘Suryast’, and ‘Ramayana’.

Speaking about them, she said, ‘Suryast’, which is a psychological thriller that has Patralekhaa and me. That’s already shot so that should be released possibly next. We’ve got Welcome to the Jungle that’s currently filming of course.”

‘Ranneeti: Balakot & Beyond’ will be out on JioCinema on April 25. It also stars Ashutosh Rana, and Ashish Vidyarthi. Directed by Santosh Singh, the series is produced by Sunjoy Waddhwa and Comall Sunjay W from Sphereorigins Multivision Private Limited. (ANI)