Pooja ventures off the beaten track

Pooja Bhatt has had her share of hits and flops. She talks to Vickey Lalwani about her
next film Rog.

I look at movie making as a business, so it is obviously a bit disappointing when a movie does not make money. Beyond that, I’ve been in the business long enough to not take a hit or flop too seriously.

Indians pretend to be interested in spirituality, but they are only interested in sensuality. Many people advised me against making Jism. They said it was too bold a subject. Yet it worked. On the contrary, I was told that Paap had the required commercial ingredients like action, good music et al. I think if people tell me now that something will work, I will not do it and vice versa. (laughs)

Rog is about this police officer who is investigating a murder and ends up falling in love with the murdered woman after seeing her photograph. During the investigations, he encounters the various men who were a part of the dead woman’s life. It is not an out-and-out whodunit though, it is more of a love story.

I believe that good performances are a natural consequence of good casting. Rog wouldn’t have been possible without the right cast — we needed refreshing, fresh leads. For the girl’s role, I wanted a stunner. And Illene Hamann was just right. I saw her picture in the magazine L’Officiel and realised that hers was the face we wanted.

I believe you should have a leading man who looks like John Abraham, or one who looks like Irfan, nothing in the middle. I have always admired his acting skills. What’s more, he looks extremely believable as a Mumbai city cop.

We wanted someone who could play a columnist powerful enough to change the opinion of millions of people through the column he wrote. We wanted someone who looked intelligent, articulate, opinionated, witty. My film has an actor like Irfan Khan who could create magic in Maqbool, an actress who does not look like your everyday Hindi film heroine.

I didn’t want to dilute the cast by taking on the same old tried and tested names.

I wanted the film to have a totally different look. Dad told me about Suhel Seth, and I thought he the role to a T. Once he read the script, he immediately signed the film. Suhel plays Illene’s friend-cum-mentor.

And then, there is Himanshu Malik, who plays Illene’s fiance. I am extremely charged up about the fact that three starkly different actors have come together in the film; the combo is very inspiring. Shayamolie Verma plays a 46-year-old woman, who loves her drink and enjoys the company of younger men. She did a marvellous job for someone who hasn’t acted before.

There are a couple of scripts I am thinking about. But, I will decide only after Rog is released. I believe in focussing on one film at a time.

Mallika and I have only agreed in principle, none has signed the dotted line yet. I will start Cabaret next year. There is a long way to go.

— TWF

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