Lara Dutta’s transformation into former prime minister Indira Gandhi for her upcoming movie ‘Bell Bottom’ has been a talking point ever since the the release of the film was released. The actor has now revealed that the transformation was “physically taxing, but surreal.”

Dutta said that she spent three hours every day in the make-up chair to look like Indira Gandhi and she is “thrilled to bits” with all the appreciation she is receiving for her appearance in the film.

“The idea was to capture everything correctly and make sure we are as close to the resemblance of Mrs Gandhi as possible. At the end of the day, either I play Indira Gandhi as Lara Dutta or we make Lara Dutta a close resemblance to Indira Gandhi,” Dutta told PTI in an interview.

“Getting the look right is paramount. The credit goes to Vikram Gaikwad and his team. They have done brilliant detailing. Once I saw myself in the mirror during the look test, I was shocked. From face structure, wrinkles, pigmentation to eyes, every minute detail has been taken care of,” she added. 

Directed by Ranjit M Tewari, ‘Bell Bottom’, which stars Akshay Kumar and Vaani Kapoor, is ’80s set spy-thriller is based on a true story that follows an undercover RAW agent who is on a mission to rescue over 200 hostages from a hijacked Indian plane.

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Dutta said the director of the movie would often send her videos of archived interviews of the former prime minister to gauge nuances like her eyes, hand movements, and other mannerisms.

“The film is about a hijack that happens during Mrs Gandhi’s tenure. It was quite a dramatic incident but she was not a dramatic person. She was never ruffled by anything, she was very much in control.

“It was important to portray all of that correctly. Bringing all of that alive on screen was a challenging and fulfilling process. I am extremely happy with the portrayal and I can’t wait for people to see it,” she said.