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'The next film I do with Soorajji has to be a step ahead'

How would you describe Namrata Shirodkar as a co-star?

I know Namrata because of Shilpa (her sister). We have worked together and I know Namrata through her. She is a very nice girl, easy to work with. She has done a good job in the film. Of course, the credit goes to Rajkumar Santoshi totally. All the performances in this film are very good. I mean, I can be proud of this film, you know... I can show it to my children as one of the films that I have done (laughs).

This is the first time you have worked with Rajkumar Santoshi, who has the reputation of making strong, women-oriented films.

I don’t think his films are women-dominated. He has made Ghayal, he has made Ghatak. And even though both films were male-dominated, the female character also has a strong role.

I think for him, in his psyche, women have a very important role. This is something that comes across in his films, where women are not mere props who appear only for a few dances. They have a substantial role to play in the film.

They have more character.

Exactly, exactly. And that is what you will find in Pukar also.

What other films are you doing?

Well, I am doing K C Bokadia’s Hum Tere Hain Sanam (opposite Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan). Then there is Deepak Shivdasani’s Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke (opposite Ajay Devgan).

What are your roles like in these films?

It's a little too early to speak about them, but I'll tell you what the films are like. K C Bokadia’s film is a social drama, where you will see Shah Rukh and Salman playing different kinds of roles, not the kind of roles you are used to seeing them in. It is more like a social, family set-up.

In Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, you will sees me in a different avatar, like they say in the magazines (laughs). But, once again, in a different sort of a set-up.

Are you going to do more roles like Mrityudand?

Gajagamini, to a large extent, will be an arty film. It is a very abstract film. It is a film which is more like a painting than a film-film.

Could you elaborate on that?

Like I said, it is not the content of the film but the form that is more important when you watch it. I am playing four different women in the film. It is not something like Pukar, where there is a distinct storyline and emotions. There are emotions in Gajagamini as well, but they are on a different level.

When you are playing four different characters in a film, how do ensure that each character comes out differently?

A lot of things help, like the character you play for example. In one part of the film, I play a woman from Pandharpur who is draped in a nauvari sari. Then I play a modern day woman who is called Monica (smiles). She is the millennium woman, very independent. She doesn’t need anyone's help, she can help herself. There is a mythological character I play called Shakuntala, you have to know her story to really understand that portion of the film.

When you see the problems women have faced, you realise that the basic problems are the same, only the era and quality probably changes. But the basic problems will always be the same.

Weren't you offered Mahesh Manjrekar’s Astitva?

Well, yes, he had narrated the script. I don’t know, everyone has his or her reasons for doing or not doing a film.

Why did you not accept Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain?

I was not offered the film. There has been this rumour doing the rounds that I refused to the film. I cannot refuse any film with Soorajji. We all sat and we kind of started thinking about the film. Soorajji also was in a dilemma because he wanted me in the film. But he said, “Which role do I put you in?”

I cannot play Karisma’s role. I could not play Sonali Bendre’s role, specially after Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!. Had I not done HAHK, I would have played one of the three characters in the film and I would have fitted perfectly. But, because of HAHK, the next film I do with Soorajji has to be a step ahead. I cannot go one step back and do a role where anyone can fit in.

Then they thought of Tabu’s role, but there is a scene in the film where Salman touches Tabu’s feet and he hugs Tabu. So there has to be this bhabhi-devar feeling between the two. But if you put me in Tabu’s place and visualise Salman touching my feet... I think people would have hooted in the theatres. And I think it's right... because of HAHK, which was a love story between Salman and me. The only role that I could have played was that of Reema Lagoo’s, which is a powerful role in the film. But I am too young to do that (laughs).

Are you doing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas?

Well, I would say ‘no comments’ at this point in time. But he has approached me for it.

His past two films, Khamoshi and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, were written with you in mind.

Yeah, I know. That was very sweet of him (laughs). Yeah, I guess it will work out with Devdas.

After your marriage, both the industry and the media have been sounding the death knell for your career.

I’ll just say one thing -- whatever you write, whatever you try to project, the final word is that of the audience. It’s very funny because they call stars hypocritical but, somewhere, even the media gets a little hypocritical. They talk about Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts where she is 32 and at her best, careerwise, right now; about Meryl Streep, who is 45 and doing the best roles, blah blah. And when it comes to their own stars they go, “Oh she's crossed 30... Oh, now she is gone.”

They have to correct their act. It's upto the audience to decide who they would like to see and who they would not like to see. I don’t think these kind of things (marriage and age) really affect their mind. As long as long as you do good films, as long as you give good performances, the audience doesn’t care.

'This is the person I want to spend rest of my life with'

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