‘One failure is not going to make me run away’: Fatima Sana Shaikh on Thugs of Hindostan debacle & New Year hopes

For the past couple of days, Fatima Sana Shaikh was cut off from the rest of the world. No, she wasn’t sitting at home and thinking about the failure of Thugs Of Hindostan (TOH), but living it up in the beautiful locales of Turkey. “It wasn’t a completely planned holiday. I just took off with my brother. It was a lot of fun, we met some lovely people out there,” she tells us.

The vacation has done the actress a lot of good. With her second film, the massively-mounted extravaganza, TOH, failing to create an impact on the box office or on the minds of the audience, it was natural for the youngster to escape the negative reviews. “I wanted to get away from it for some time,” she admits, “Except for posting pictures on social media, I didn’t follow any other news. I am one of those who reads everything and watches everything, and I did do that for one week before heading for my holiday.” 

There were a lot of expectations from the Aamir Khan-Amitabh Bachchan starrer, but obviously, something did not go right with it. “Everybody has an opinion and you cannot reject the audience’s reaction. If they have not liked it, there must have been a reason. I can’t be upset with people. Life mein thoda move on kar lena chahiye,” she philosophises. Taking a cue, we asked the Dangal actress about her future plans...

For somebody who received so much love and appreciation for her debut film, Dangal, the failure of TOH must have been devastating. How did you deal with it?

For the first few days, I couldn’t understand what was happening... all the trolling, etc. I was very disturbed and heartbroken, but eventually, I learnt to accept it. When you get into something like this, everyone puts in so much effort. It’s not just the actors and filmmakers but also the technicians. For almost two years, everybody was so involved in it. The audience didn’t take to the film but I will never forget the memories that I shared with these people. I still take it positively because I got this opportunity to work with such legends. I’ve reached here after a lot of struggle and so many auditions, one failure is not going to make me run away from this industry. I’m just going to keep working harder. Every setback is a learning experience.

Did you sit back and analyse what went wrong?

Creatively, when one is so involved, one tends to lose judgement. Of course, I sat and reflected upon myself, but it was more as a person and not so much as an actor. I’ve always been the insecure sort because I’m really competitive and I’ve always felt I’m not good enough. Also, at times, I felt disheartened and it’s not because of other people telling me. I talk to myself in a negative way. TOH didn’t do well but I became stronger. Now, if I feel I wasn’t good enough in it, let’s do something about it. Let’s not sit at home and be sad because that’s not going to achieve anything. I have found that push in myself after TOH.

So, what’s next on the horizon?

I’m doing a movie with Anurag Basu, where I’m paired opposite Rajkummar Rao. We start shooting in January and I’m really excited about it. It’s not a sequel to Life In A Metro, but has a similar layout — of four stories. It’s a different role, a normal one this time! (Laughs)

You had tough, action-oriented roles in both Dangal and Thugs. Would you like to explore other genres, for instance, a love story or a comedy?

Oh, yes, definitely! I’ve always loved the drama genre. I enjoy romantic flicks, especially tragic love stories. I’m a Sanjay Leela Bhansali fan. I love to cry when I’m watching movies. I get involved, I react. I’m the one who screams at the screen and says, ‘Kya kar raha hai!’ I hope I get to try different genres and characters in the coming year.

Both your projects were big-budget with prominent production houses. Would you want to try smaller, content-driven cinema?

I think our audience has started to accept films that are not the usual fare. Stree, for instance. It has been loved by people, so yes, content is extremely important. I feel this year has shown that writing and script are the backbone of the film. If that’s in place, then it will work even if it doesn’t have a big star cast. That provides us youngsters with a lot of opportunities as producers would want to try us out, It’s been a good year for films... except for ours! (Laughs)