New Delhi: The story of three friends set against the hyper world of social media and its toxic rabbit hole, the film directed by debutante director Arjun V Singh has struck a chord.


OVERWHELMED WITH THE RESPONSE


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Ananya Panday confesses that this is the first time that she has had people wanting to discuss the film with her rather than pose and take pictures. “It is just an awesome feeling that it is a conversation starter, and that’s the kind of cinema I want to be part off, says the actor. Ananya’s raw performance as  Ahana a marketing whiz, whose break up becomes the most defining factor of her life, says ”I related to Ahaana at many levels,  and wanted to play her naturally as possible Yes, it true for many women who feel their relationships defines them, and everything else than simply blurs around them.”


Actor Siddhant Chatruvedi who had  confessed to taking a break from film after the failure of his horror comedy Phone Booth, says it was a period of introspection for him.”I felt lost, the scripts and opportunities were not exciting, so a break was important, since I needed perspective.”


Playing Imaad, the complex stand-up comic dealing with the emotional trauma of the past, was a challenge, the actor says it was stepping into the dark.”I had to layer him perfectly, it was a risk that I took. I am happy for the three of us because we did some good work before this, but this feels like our first film. Also, it is a first of its kind because we have not had a narrative like this. Also, the current trend has been of these big action films which are being hailed by people. We have had films like “Dil Chahta Hai", " Wake Up Sid”, and slice-of-life narratives but I thought maybe audience tastes have changed. I was not very sure if this would strike a chord, we knew it was a good film, but the response has been overwhelming, I got this kind of reception after Gully Boy,” he adds on a whimsical note.


White Tiger actor Adarsh Gourav, who plays Neil an aspirational Gym trainer, has surprised everyone with the change in his physicality, reveals that he wasn’t too sure if he could get the physicality right, so much so that he and Siddhant had joked they would swap roles.”I can never anticipate anything because I feel it leads to disappointments. I lucked out with this, I auditioned in January 2021 and the shoot was pushed back further and I got ample time to train vegetarian me, even started eating chicken,” he says with a laugh.


THE OFF-SCREEN BOND


Another aspect of the film which resonated was the platonic relationship between the three characters, with no romantic track of angst playing out, as usually is the case when you have two men and a woman in a narrative.


The on-screen chemistry translates well off-screen too, as both Siddhant and Adarsh call Ananya a private investigator, given her innate ability to remember things, Ananya calls Adarsh the most interesting person she has ever come across. “He has the most random and scary stories to tell, and both Siddhant and I always look at Adarsh if we have said something stupid.’


Siddhant and Ananya’s infamous banter on a talk show is now a thing of the past, as he admits that she has a better understanding of the audience than he does. “She knows the reception, and the vibe of the public. Sometimes my humour crosses the line, and she looks out for me. We are literally like our screen characters Imaad and Ahana’.


Ananya calls Siddhant a livelier, but it is Adarsh who has the most interesting take.”I have yet to come across someone who has the confidence of Siddhant, he can sway the audience. I would love to see Siddhant play a godman, who is controlling crowds.’


As the three break out in laughter can we expect a “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan 2”? “We were just discussing that”, says Ananya.