Ever since Shoojit Sircar’s Varun Dhawan and Bani Sandhu starrer, October has been announced there’s been a huge curiosity as to who Banita is? Where she comes from and what has she done before? While most of these questions have been answered, there are other things we didn’t know about Banita, until Varun shared them with us at an event recently.
Varun and Shoojit have been very protective about Banita since we all know that she’s new to Mumbai and new to the industry as well, so like all gentlemen do, the two have been making sure she’s comfortable and safe and also making sure she gets the best.
This was also evident from the way the entire crew was protective about her even at the event. Varun being the sweetheart he is, tried to make sure that Banita got all the limelight instead of him at the event and even requested the media to ask her some questions. He then went on to say “But if you ask her too many questions chances are her tears might just start rolling down! She is extremely shy. I remember the first time when she met the paparazzi, people started clicking our pictures, Banita would just leave me alone and go stand quietly in one corner and look like a bystander. I had to remind her again and again that she too is an actor and people know her so there is no need to stand in the corner.”
Holding the mic for her, Varun went on to tell the media that Banita is a great singer and we should ask her to sing a few lines, but Banita of course refused! She, however, told us how she bagged the role, “I did an ad with Shoojit sir and he had mentioned about the film then and then that was it. I went back to London and there was no news from him for about 6 months. I kept wondering if the film was going to happen. Finally, one of the producers called me and said they wanted me for the lead role in the film. I said yes even without having heard the storyline because I was so desperate to work with Shoojit sir again. I didn’t even care how long my role was, I just wanted to be a part of it. It is great to work with him.”
Banita who has done a couple of TV commercials in India earlier added, “There were a few offers before but I never took them seriously. I only came to India to do ads because I wanted to make some extra money to support my university education. My role in October was a very intense challenging role. The makers have poured their hearts and souls into this film.A lot of preparation has gone into the making of this film,” says Banita.
When Banita was asked whether Varun had given her any acting tips while filming, she laughed and said, ”I remember there was this one time where we were doing a scene and we were just not getting it right because of some technical issue, that’s when Varun came to me and said ‘just do it, look at me more’ and I was like ‘Are you my director?’ After that he never tried to give me any tips again! But like he suggested I did look at him and it worked. The thing with Varun is that he always went out of his way to make me feel ok and comfortable.He never made me feel inferior just because he was in the industry longer than me.”
Varun, on the other hand, said that he always felt that he was learning more from Banita than she learning from him. ”Shoojit dada wanted real people and that’s exactly what Banita was, she was real. She has the most expressive and beautiful eyes ever. Her sense of adventure, sense of wonder, the way she said her dialogues. Her dialogues never seemed like dialogues. Watching her and the other debut actors in this film I’ve learnt a lot, like getting happy with little things.”
We can’t wait for October now can we?
Read Also: Varun Dhawan And Banita Sandhu Bring In ‘October’ Early This Year!
