Sara Ali Khan is happy with her performance in the recently released Aanand L Rai directorial Atrangi Re, despite the polarising response it has received from the audience and critics alike. Sara portrayed the role of a Bihari girl Rinku in the movie, who is caught in a love triangle with Akshay Kumar and Dhanush’s characters.
The actor, in a recent interview with Mid-day, said that she is happy that most of her audience is partly baffled and partly amused by the storyline of Atrangi Re, stating that that is exactly why she had given her nod to the romantic drama. And the new actor is especially happy with the different kind of buzz Atrangi Re has generated after her last film, Love Aaj Kal, failed to connect with viewers.
“After Kedarnath and Simmba, I was put on a pedestal that I wasn’t sure I deserved. After Love Aaj Kal, I was dragged down brutally,” the actor told Mid-day while speaking of her past movies.
The Indian Express’ film critic Shubhra Gupta had given 1.5 stars to the feature, and written, “Dhanush was one of the nicer elements of ‘Raanjhanaa’, which came from the same team. Here, he rises above the clunkiness of his character, treading between a dutiful familial union and falling in love with a strange stranger,” adding that the premise of the movie “holds out promise. But the execution is a relentlessly downward spiral.”
Earlier, speaking to indianexpress.com, Atrangi Re writer Himanshu Sharma had spoken about the film’s portrayal of mental illness, “When I chose this story and this concept, I wasn’t making a documentary on mental illness. Understanding of human anatomy does not guarantee that you’ll understand human beings. There is so much more to the film, to that story called Atrangi Re, it talks about love, loss, and trauma, and how trauma can create so many difficulties for you and how love can fix all of those problems. In my head, I used mental issue as a tool, a sugar-coating through which I am telling you about even deeper things. So, at times while I was manoeuvring my way, it doesn’t mean I am not paying attention to it or that I am not being honest towards it.”
Atrangi Re is currently streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar.
