Wamiqa Gabbi: Kapil Dev's daughter Amiya helped me in portraying Annu Lal in '83'

Yes, I was very young when I started learning Kathak. I was inspired by the film ‘Devdas’. After 2 years of learning, I got back to studying and then I joined Kathak classes for 2 months again in college. After that I got busy in work and now, I am again looking for a Kathak teacher.

It was fun to work with them. There were so many faces, and you get to interact with different people. Many of those were familiar and so it didn’t seem that I was in an unknown environment, it was really comfortable. Ranveer and Deepika were so nice and humble. Even London’s environment was so relaxing, it led to a smooth shoot of the film.

Generally, when you are working with so many cast and crew members, you get a bit concerned about your part in the film and you want to fulfil it properly. But, in this case everyone made each other feel very comfortable and we all were motivating each other to give our best.

It was really nice working with Hardy and Ammy. I used to have most of my conversations with them. I have already done two films with Ammy, and we are very good friends, Me-Hardy and Me-Amy. Also, in a different country it was good to have some of my people around. It made the process easy and fun.

Although I didn’t get to personally meet Annu Lal, but Amiya Dev (Kapil Dev’s daughter) was AD on the set, and her mother Romi and Annu Lal are good friends. So, I used to ask questions about Annu Lal to her and she helped me with understanding the character.

I don’t watch cricket religiously at all, but my family, back in Chandigarh, watches cricket like a religion. My uncle can watch any match, even if it’s on repeat. So along with him, we also used to watch those matches. My family is really happy that I am a part of the film which is about India’s first world cup. I watch cricket as a game only and mostly I am interested in the last few overs where the suspense is at peak. I also have friends who watch all kinds of matches, even the recorded ones too. So, I think cricket has a special effect on people in India.

Definitely, as I have said earlier in India cricket is like religion, so when we talk about world cup, it’s like do or die situation for many fans. So, I am very confident that people are going to like this film. Since the film is about India’s first world cup and the way Kabir Sir has made this film and the response from trailer, people will definitely want to watch it.

There is a Netflix’s original series ‘Mai’ produced by Clean Slate Films, in which I am working with Sakshi Tanwar. It is almost wrapped up and will be released next year.

Then there is ‘Khufiya’ which is in production right now.

The third one is ‘Galwakdi’, it is a Punjabi film which I did before lockdown and is ready to be released now.