Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
The picture is rosy
|
Neha Dhupia shares the many curves in her career with Anuj Kumar
|
Photo: R. Ragu
TAKE YOUR PICK Like SRK, like me too, a ravishing Neha Dhupia seems to suggest
Neha Dhupia is playing Julie again in Singh is Kinng and she is happy about it. There was a time when she used to get irritated at the mere mention of Julie and what followed. Films like Sheesha and Kya Kool Hain Hum slotted her as the bombshell for the lowest common denominator. Today she wilfully discloses that it was she who suggested director Anees Bazmee to name her character Julie. “It is a funny character who lives in delusions. Anees wanted to name it Rosy. I suggested why not Julie. Life has come a full circle for me. Today I can laugh at myself.”
The new found confidence has come from films like Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Mithya and some “intelligent films” that are in her kitty. “There was a time when I used to fume at critics for being too critical of films like Julie and Kya Kool..., as they were commercially successful. I have realised when they praise Taare Zameen Par, they have the right to give the devil its due.”
The twist
Neha’s career graph changed the day she found Rajat Kapoor working out on a tread mill next to her in a gym. “He offered me a role. I had just seen his Mixed Doubles. I asked him his number. He said he doesn’t carry a mobile. I thought he was joking and asked him to give me a call in six weeks. He did and Mithya happened. I have already finished two more films with him. One is Saurabh Shukla’s Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, which is about one night stands and the other is a comedy called I am 24.” She quickly clarifies that she is not 24. “It is Rajat’s character which is 42 but does everything to prove that he is 24.” The list doesn’t end here she is also working with “heavyweights” like Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Boman Irani in Maharathi and has been signed a few days back for Saurabh’s next venture.
One tries to suggest her that this so-called intelligent cinema can also peg you in an image, but Neha says she is conscious about it. “As long as there is a character graph, a definite beginning, middle and end and it doesn’t disappear midway, I have no issues.”
Working with the likes of Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey and Rajat is considered difficult for they are spontaneous actors who improvise a lot while she has learnt on job. “Yes, I have but I remember what Priyadarshanji once told me during Chup Chup Ke. Acting is all about applying common sense.”
Well, then for roles like Julie does one need to give this sense some rest? “Comedy requires a different approach. Julie wants to become an actress and joins this Punjabi gang from Chandigarh which ran away to Australia. She feels this is the way she will get a break one day. She keeps on delivering dialogues in daily life. For instance she calls the don: ‘Nayak nahin khalnayak hai tu’.”
Despite all the welcome changes in her career, Neha stands by her famous quote: Only sex and SRK sells in Bollywood. “It is not me; the filmmakers are standing by it. Still either they want to cast SRK or want the heroines to look sexy.”
A Delhiite, Neha graduated from Jesus and Marry College before taking the pageant route to Bollywood.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
