Mission Mangal gives us the hope we need: Kirti

I'm thrilled that a movie like 'Mission Mangal' has released around this time. With everything going on in different parts of the country, positive and negative, this movie feels like that little hope we need right now. The movie is inspiring, it celebrates what the nation can do and what we've accomplished so far.

When we decided to start working on the movie, we just knew that the release date will be August 15. We never anticipated how things will be six months from then and the kind of things that happened after that. But ever since the trailer was launched, we received so many positive responses that we we were so excited to celebrate India through the film.

I play Neha Siddiqui, one of the scientists. I did a general homework on my character but it was a tough one. I took references from the director, Googled and learnt about the actual mission, what my department means and how it functions, and so on. Jagan was well-versed with the subject, so whenever I wanted to give up I just went to him.

Growing up, science wasn't my best subject. So you can imagine what studying this meant. Some of the words we use were such tongue twisters, I can't even remember them now!

But I have a new interest in learning more about this though. I've realised that working on the characters I do motivates me to changing my reading list. Maybe that's what I needed all along.