Interview i am gangster free#

Literally, it was like one of those climax moments in movies that you get it done at the last minute. Anurag was the happiest person because they were looking for my replacement. In the end, my father pulled some strings and got the passport. At that time it used to take 3-4 months for it. I pleaded to my father to get the procedure done. They started to audition other girls for the role. He told me, ‘īeta, tumhare pass passport nahi hai, kaha se aayi ho tum?’ (laughs). Mukesh (Bhatt) sir had called me and had the same reaction. That time I was not talking to my father, but I called him to ask about the passport.

Ye kya ladki hai tu, pagal hai kya tu? Kaha se aayi hai?” (laughs). He looked at me horrified and went back to Anurag who later called and said ‘ He came and told me, ‘we want your passport and I replied 'What is that? '. The production boy came to the rented apartment I was staying at. Before the shooting, we were supposed to go to Seoul, South Korea for the shoot and I was such a kid. But Anurag liked me in a way that I looked for the role and for a long time I was hanging in there. Later I found that there was some conflict internally to cast me as a model in the film as I was a minor myself and it was impossible for me to have a child at that age. But I didn’t know if I had the job or not. So I went to meet them and Anurag started auditioning me for various scenarios like being drunk, crying, being homeless and gave me some lines and then he got a camera and said that I did well. They said, ‘No, the director has never met you.’ It was actually the AD's who were doing auditions. I replied saying that ‘I have already auditioned and met the director’. So I left and my pictures reached Anurag and I got a frantic call in a few days that 'you have to come and meet the director'. I was sitting there and they refused to audition me and basically rejected me before they could audition me. There were these models who were going to Vishesh films for ‘Gangster’ auditions and I tagged along because I had that look. I was in Mumbai and was sent for some auditions. So in a way, it was very good for me to be launched in that way.

Interview i am gangster free#

I was 16 when I started and finally with ‘Tanu Weds Manu’, I was 23 or 24 and had just broken free of those edgy, neurotic characters (laughs). So for many years, I was doing those homeless kinds of edgy roles which were very difficult. I was so skinny and had curly hair and he enhanced all that and that made me even more unfit. I was very unconventional for a mainstream actress. There was no market for such films and such actors. During that time, it was a one-of-a-kind film that did well. So I would say that it was a perfect break for me but yet, coming from that route it was a struggle also from parallel cinema. So he told me things about films, how they differ from theatre and how I need to completely internalize my acting as opposed to a very theatrical way of acting. In addition, he is a very good actor himself. At the same time, he has a theatre background so he understood me and where I came from. He is a terrific director and a very instinctive, creative person. To be working with Anurag Basu and that school of art…I was trained in theatre, I was not trained in movies and to be working under Anurag was the biggest USP of ‘Gangster’ for me.

So to hell with all those who said that actresses have a shelf life of 3-4 years.Ĭan we say that you got a perfect debut one can ask for?

It feels good and I am on top of my game and I feel that I have a long way to go. Everybody used to talk about shelf life and look, it's been 15 years. People used to say that actresses have a shelf life of 4-5 years and I used to wonder why people say something like this? Are we some product off the shelf? It used to feel so odd, even as a teenager when people used to say something like this to me, especially some Lokhandwala managers I used to have at that time. So suddenly it just happened that I was so wanted as a struggling newcomer. But surprisingly when I got this ad, I got another one or two films and one of them was a South film which became quite a big hit. Even though it was quite quick, within a few months of being in Mumbai I got this break but yet everyday rejections and every day failing in auditions, it just felt so demotivating. I wasn't getting much success in modelling. I had left home and stayed in Delhi trying to figure out what I wanted to do and then I was struggling in Mumbai doing ads. When ‘Gangster’ happened, I was in desperate need of work and it was seeming like forever. Oh yes, it’s 15 years now! (smiles) To be honest, it feels great.