Deepika opens up about Filming Intimate Scenes in Gehraiyaan

Deepika Padukone has shared her experience of filming intimate scenes in Gehraiyaan, the trailer for which was released on January 20, 2022.

Deepika credited the film’s director Shakun Batra for creating a “safe and secure” environment on set.

Gehraiyaan is a relationship drama, which explores the theme of infidelity in modern relationships.

In the trailer, Deepika’s character Alisha falls for her cousin Tia’s fiancé Zain, played by Siddhant Chaturvedi.

Dhairya Karwa has been cast as Alisha’s husband Karan while Ananya Panday is seen in the role of Tia.

During the virtual press conference after the trailer launch, Deepika said:

“Shakun gave me and all of us the comfort, you feel safe and secure because intimacy is not easy.

“It is not something that we ever experienced or explored in Indian cinema before in a way we have in this film.”

Deepika said she felt comfortable doing intimate scenes as she was aware of Shakun’s intentions:

“So, to go down that route of intimacy and vulnerability is possible when you know the director is not doing it for eyeballs.

“Because that is where the characters are coming from, their experience and journey.

“It is possible when you feel safe and secure in the environment.”

Shakun Batra roped in filmmaker Dar Gai as Gehraiyaan’s intimacy director.

Sharing his views, the director said:

“We were treating intimacy like a story and we want to see it as a character.

“So, the prep and the detailing was required. It was important we have an intimacy director.

“And Dar Gai has contributed a lot to the film. It is important to give her the same respect as we give to all HODs.”

Whilst Deepika Padukone was quick to praise Shakun Batra, Ananya Panday says the director “laughed in her face” after an emotional scene.

She added that his behaviour after one of her intense scenes made her second-guess herself as an actress.

Ananya said: “There was this scene where I had to cry and put all my emotions.

“I have gone in, it was just me alone, Shakun was sitting outside.

“I have cried and cried, and I think Shakun is going to say, ‘Wow, what a performance’.

“I come out and Shakun is just cracking up.”

“He is just laughing in my face. I was like, ‘Uh, have I done some awful job?’”

The actress added: “But Shakun, I think, has a problem with people crying.

“He can’t keep a straight face which is very strange because he is a very sensitive director, so you would think otherwise.

“Once Deepika and I had a scene where we were emotional.

“We had to make Shakun sit in another room because he could not stop laughing.”

Gehraiyaan, produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Shakun Batra, is set for a direct-to-digital release on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, 2022.