‘Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele’ starring Anshuman Jha, Zareen Khan in the lead recently released on Disney+ Hotstar VIP on 9 May.
It revolves around 2 homosexual characters – Veer and Mansi, who form a unique friendship as a turn of events change their lives on their road trip from New Delhi to McLeodganj.
While talking to the media, Zareen said people were wary of casting her in a non-glam role –
“It is not the first time that people have been sceptical to cast me in their film if it is a non-glamorous role. They have this whole thing because of all the previous work that I had done. This was not the first time that people were sceptical,” she told IANS.
“But, yes, I was asked for an audition and I was more than happy to give, because a person does not know if I would be able to pull off this character. They loved the auditions and I was a part of this film,” she added.
When asked if she had any inhibitions about playing a lesbian character or how she approached the role, Zareen commented –
“It wasn’t really difficult I would say. As for the body language, I have been a tomboy all my life, so that trait, which I was always told to correct, helped me here in the film,” she said.
“The thought occurred to me — because I am not a homosexual — that I shouldn’t end up doing something unknowingly, saying or portraying something that might offend the LGBTQ community. Then I thought to myself that it is about portraying the emotion of love and that emotion is felt the same way how a straight person would feel it, because the emotions are the same,” she added.
“I just had to be honest to the emotion of love and just portray it on screen with all honesty,” Zareen concluded.