Mumbai, Oct 31: In an exclusive interview with Zee News, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor candidly revealed their experiences, fears and expectations regarding their debutant venture – Saawariya.

Ranbir Kapoor belongs to the legendary Kapoor family- the first family of Bollywood. He is the son of Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh whereas Sonam is Anil Kapoor’s daughter. The debutant actors appeared optimistic about Saawariya, which will release on November 9.

After Devdas, Saawariya is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s yet another ambitious venture, which is being hailed as his best work so far. When asked about the competition with SRK’s ‘Om Shanti Om’, which is also releasing on Nov 9, Ranbir said there is no competition as such and he wished all the best to the film. He further added that he is sure that Shahrukh Khan would have similar wishes for Saawariya.

Ranbir is all praises for his director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and he takes pride in being called his ‘obedient disciple’. He said that he has learnt a lot of things from Bhansali. He reminisces and says that he wanted to work with Bhansali after he watched his ‘Devdas’. He went to Bhansali to assist in his ventures. Instead, Bhansali offered him the lead role in Saawariya. When asked about Bhansali being a hard taskmaster, Ranbir said, “He had all the rights to scold me”. Bhansali wanted his work to match all expectations. He relates an incident when Bhansali encouraged him after he okayed a difficult scene in two shots and told him that “a star is born”.

Sonam Kapoor is his childhood friend and is very protective about her. He said that all his co-stars including Zohra Sehgal, Rani Mukherjee and Salman Khan have been very supportive. Zohra Sehgal is an old family friend.

Shy and beautiful Sonam Kapoor too revealed interesting facts regarding her life and the film. She is playing ‘Sakina’ in the film. The character is completely different from her personality but she managed to do justice to the role with the active support of Bhansali and the scriptwriter Prakash Kapadia.

She revealed that Bhansali approached her father Anil Kapoor to ask for his permission to launch Sonam as the heroine of his new film. Sonam has always been interested in films and books. Anil asked Sonam first and then gave his permission. Saawariya has been a great learning process for her and Bhansali supported her like a parent throughout, she says.

Sonam shed 30kgs for the character and has been on a low-fat diet although she loves chocolate and frequently indulges into it. She is all praise for her co-stars and says that Ranbir always supported her. She considers Salman Khan very innovative apart from being her favourite actor. She added that Rani is a thorough professional and has been an ‘angel’ to her.

When asked about the stiff competition with Om Shani Om, she said that they can’t compare themselves with established actors like Shahrukh Khan and model Deepika Padukone.

There is an alluring aura of innocence and charm about the debutantes. The twinkle in their eyes expresses their great expectations from the film and the hard work that they have put into its making. We wish them all the best!