Feel fortunate to be offered characters of substance, says Fatima Sana Shaikh

Actor Fatima Sana Shaikh, who broke into the Bollywood scene with 2016 blockbuster Dangal, says she is blessed to be getting great scripts to choose from.

The 28-year-old actor's last cinematic outing was 2019's "Thugs of Hindostan", which could not register a strong performance at the box office.

"I feel fortunate I am getting great scripts, where the characters are not weak and there is more substance to it. Though there are quite a few projects being offered but not all of them excite me.  "It is not all about professional (reasons) but emotional too. If I am not in an emotional space where I want to do something, I don't do it. It is a battle with myself," Fatima told PTI in an interview.

In case of her forthcoming releases including Anurag Basu's Ludo and Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari, Fatima said the reasons to do these two movies were the script and her co-stars.

The actor will be seen opposite Rajkummar Rao in Ludo, in Suraj Pe..., she stars with Manoj Bajpayee and Dijit Dosanjh. Talking about working with seasoned co-stars, Fatima said, What I have understood by working with all of them is that all these people are so good at their job and they have one thing in common  passion for their work.

"The way they approach each film with childlike excitement, that is something I would like to retain. I really hope I never lose that passion for my work. After a sports drama like Dangal, the actor featured in action-adventure Thugs of Hindostan. Now while Ludo is a dark anthology comedy, Suraj Pe is an out-and-out comedy.  

For Fatima, the story matters, not the genre. If it strikes a chord with me, I do it. If I like something I just want to jump into it even if it is out of my league. Like Dangal' was out of my league, I never thought I would be able to do so many stunts. But I really wanted to be part of it so I worked hard and did it. Every film poses a different kind of challenge to an actor, she said.

Besides getting the comic timing right, for Suraj Pe, she had to learn the Marathi accent, and in the case of Ludo, she relied on the instructions of her director. In comedy it is all about reacting to the situation and your co-stars. It is about being spontaneous, which doesn't come naturally to me but that is what I have learnt and I am glad I got this opportunity.

Ludo was scheduled to hit the theatres on April 24. The actor said given the coronavirus pandemic, she isn't even thinking about the film's release. "Right now we are battling something that is so grave".   Set in a quintessential Indian metro, "Ludo" follows four different stories with people dealing with unavoidable jeopardies of life.

The film also features Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanya Malhotra, Rohit Saraf and Pankaj Tripathi. Fatima had also wrapped up "Suraj Pe... ", which boasts of an ensemble cast of Annu Kapoor, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Vijay Raaz, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Manuj Sharma. Directed by Abhishek Sharma of The Zoya Factor fame, the film is scheduled to be released later this year.