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Did acting just happen?
Acting for me was a well
thought-out decision.`A0I went through all my options, took a`A0
conscious decision knowing fully well that I’d sacrifice my
privacy`A0and all that, but would do my best to do good job. Besides,
acting was something I knew I could do. It wasn’t something that I’d
have to try. When I was asked to do a school play I’d always say
"Yes, I’ll do it." It was never "I’ll try."
When did you start getting
film offers?
I had been getting offers
to act from the time I was 16. My first offer came from Shekhar Kapur
and I was thrilled. I was so excited, I started screaming. Basically, I
was excited because he was the guy who made Mr India. In my
adolescent brain only that registered— Sridevi-Mr India. I
loved her in it. I didn’t think of it as work, I just thought of
enjoying myself. I was to play a character called ‘Item’. The film
was Tara Rum Pum Pum —it was to have Preity Zinta too, but it
fizzled out.
Tell us about your
relationship with Kajol.
We were always
fighting`A0and Kajol always`A0 won. But she was not allowed to beat me
up as she was older. I don’t know if I was Mum’s favourite or not,
but since I was smaller physically, Kajol was never allowed to do that.
Only verbal fights were allowed. But as we grew older, Kajol mothered
me. And she was a lovely mother.
One has great expectations
of you as an actress. How do you react to the camera?
I’m very comfortable in
front of the camera. I haven’t learnt to play with it yet—I’d like
to.`A0 The director has only to convince me and I’m ready to do
anything. Earlier, I thought, ‘Oh my God ! How am I going to dance in
front of all these people? What are people going to think of me?’ But
the moment I’m in front of the camera that logical part of me shuts
down and the instinctive part of me takes over.
Tell us something about
your debut film Ssss..hhh.
I like thrillers. It
sounded like good fun. I wondered if I could do the
character.`A0Somebody is after her, she’s scared—things you see
other people doing in thrillers. You know that you can do all that
romantic stuff. If you think of a typical Hindi film heroine you think
of Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi. Madhubala – playing those typical young,
playful roles. But you don’t think of Sigourney Weaver in The Alien
or Michelle Pfeiffer in`A0What Lies Beneath. So when I saw the
script I found it interesting. That’s why I took the role.
Do you mind too many takes?
No, I’m not conceited
about that—I’ll do any number of takes that my director says.
Sometimes you are not focused, your concentration is missing, it’s not
about whether you can do it or not, but the peripherals may not be just
right. So it’s not as if your first take is okay always and even`A0if
it is, I always ask the director: "Are you sure? I’m willing to
do 50 takes if necessary." But sometimes you are so mentally
saturated that you know that if you give the take again you’ll only be
one notch lower. Then I stop.
How important is the
co-star?
I think it’s very
important for any actor to have a good co-star because you react well
when he acts well. It makes a big difference.
Do you see yourself
playing a long innings?
Yes, absolutely as long as
I take up projects which I enjoy.
What kind of image would
you like to project?
I haven’t given this a
thought at all. I don’t want to say I will do this or not do this. I
haven’t listened to my instincts for sometime now but now I will. My
choice of films, my reactions are all instinctive and I let my instincts
decide. TWF
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