After the success of 'The Kerala Story', actress Adah Sharma has yet again collaborated with Vipul Amrutlal Shah and Sudipto Sen. She will be seen in 'Bastar: The Naxal Story'. Like the previous movie that was termed as a 'propaganda' film by a section of people, 'Bastar' also seems to receive polarising reviews. The teaser, featuring Adah as IPS officer Neerja Madhavan, was released recently and it faced a backlash from a section of netizens.
'Bastar' is based on on a true incident and in the 1 minute 17-second teaser, Adah Sharma's character is saying words like Left, liberal, vampanthi, pseudo-intellectual, Naxalite, and JNU that have ruffled a few feathers and I am sure it will irk a section of people this time as well. Adah said that 'Bastar' is highly a 'political' drama. ''All the people who thought or called The Kerala Story was political can watch Bastar. It is a political drama. The Kerala Story was a human drama. It was a story about a mother and a daughter, how she left home, got pregnant, etc,'' she said.
'Talking more about her upcoming film, Sharma said, 'Bastar is about a cop who is fighting a war and she is really brave and extremely bold. She is speaking to politicians, fighting with them, with government officials and the whole system and repeatedly failing. She tries and fails again because the system is corrupt and yeah, it's a political film.''
'The Kerala Story' which released in 2023, stirred controveries for various reasons. There were heated arguments on social media bashing the film. When asked if she expects the same reaction this time as well, Adah replied, ''During The Kerala Story, the bashing was minuscule compared to the love we received especially after the release. Whatever people said they said it before, but to be very honest, after the film's release, I only got love. I didn't get any bashing after it was released.''
She continued, ''In Bastar, everyone is intelligent enough to know that I am playing a character. I am not the girl who I was in The Kerala Story nor am I Neerja Madhavan in Bastar. As an actor, I am trying to play my characters as convincingly as possible so that people believe I am the character. In Sunflower 2, I play a bar dancer and an escort. In real life, I am not either of those. I am also a murderer in Sunflower and in real life, I don't commit murders. ''
''I am happy that people actually believe that I am that but in reality, I am not. I am not as brave as a soldier and you can't compare my bravery to that of the soldiers. Bastar is about how our 76 jawans got butchered. So, I see the film like that. Yes, it will be classified as a political film but for me, it's about our soldiers who protect our country so that we can freely roam around with no stress. Those soldiers got butchered not by the people of other countries but by people from our own country. So, I wanted to be part of the story so that people know about it,'' she said further.
In 'Bastar' teaser, Adah's character unabashedly said, “JNU celebrated when 76 soldiers were killed in Bastar. Just think about it. Where do they adopt this mentality from? Leftists, liberals, pseudo-intellectuals from cities are behind those in Bastar who are planning to divide India. I’ll shoot these leftists dead in public. Hang me then''. On asked if he personally feels the same, the '1920' actress said, ''I feel the death of any soldier or our warriors taking care of our country is wrong because death is something that can't be celebrated. We are what we are because of the soldiers and the warriors and their deaths being celebrated is not something that I stand for.''
Adah also said that 'Bastar' has realistic action. There is no hand-to-hand combats but mostly with guns. ''We used a this heavy six kg gun because the director wanted it to be realistic. I used to carry guns that are six-eight kgs. Rest are the dialogues and my dialogues are better than any action scenes happening,'' she concluded.
