I'm so scared, nervous: Alia on playing a Kashmiri in Raazi
Actress Alia Bhatt, while talking about playing a Kashmiri character in the upcoming film Raazi, said, "I am so scared and nervous to go on this journey, because of the kind of intensity of this character." Directed by Meghna Gulzar, the film has been set during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. 
Alia Bhatt is all geared up to get back in the groove with Meghna Gulzar's Raazi. In the espionage thriller set during the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, Alia is to play a Kashmiri girl married to a Pakistani army officer, who provides valuable information to the Indian forces. The team of Raazi will begin shooting the film this month in a start-to-finish schedule in Punjab and Kashmir, with some portions to be filmed in Mumbai.Alia Bhatt, who plays a Kashmiri spy in the film based on Harinder Sikka's novel Calling Sehmat, has been going through intense preparations for her role. "I'm going through one of the most extensive preparations for this film. The last time I did something like this, was for Udta Punjab. But that also was only with the dialect. Raazi is about dialect, body language and things like driving a big heavy jeep... Shifting those gears is a different ball game for me altogether. I am learning Urdu so it's also going to help me in the longer run. I'm playing with the language for over a month now and every day, I am sitting with it for hours. I know most of my dialogues by heart right now because I have been reading them over and over again. I am having a lot of fun with it," the Highway actor told DNA.Alia Bhatt, who is about to start shooting Raazi shortly, got interested in the film because of the journey of the character and that she could relate to it. On being asked if she has read the book that the film is based on, Calling Sehmat, Alia said, "I had not read the book when Meghna came to me about a year-and-a-half ago. There was just a basic one-line story idea. I told her that this is something that I would love to do. ... I read the first 20 pages of the story and I knew that if I want to do that one film a year that challenges me, this is that film."She added, "I am so scared and nervous to go on this journey, because of the kind of intensity of this character."Raazi, also starring Vicky Kaushal, does not have an official release date yet.