Of female bondage

Sushmita Sen’s Paisa Vasool, produced by Manisha Koirala, is a women-centric story. But it’s a fun film rather than a serious look at empowerment and feminist ideals, the actress tells Lata Khubchandani.

THIS is your next release after Samay which didn’t do too well. How do you feel about doing an all women film?

Why ever not? I admire Manisha for making such a film. There are lots of films about male bonding but this is the first of its kind. In an industry which is male-dominated, this is a departure.

It really didn’t matter to me when I took up the film that Manisha Koirala was a new producer and Srinivas a new director. I was interested in the script and my role. When I found that interesting, I said yes. I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t a good role.

How was it working with another actress as producer? Any qualms about getting a smaller role ?

You’d be surprised that I got the bigger role. I play ‘Baby’ in the film, a cool character. It is really an interesting role and Manisha offered it to me, saying that only I could play it and it was written accordingly. She herself has a smaller role comparatively. You know, a lot of roles are written for heroes- even two heroes, as in Sholay etc, but this is the first time there’s anything with two girls. And it’s also in the thriller genre. That is very attractive. I’ve known Manisha for nine years and have watched her going through her acting career and now she’s doing her own stuff which is great really. She is a very sweet person and even as a producer she is so nice that it often makes her vulnerable.

Can you elaborate on your role ?

The story is about the relationship between two women characters. My character, Baby, is quite interesting. I play a wannabe actress who is too tall and that’s why I don’t get roles and I do item numbers because I don’t get the usual roles due to my height. This is not actually the case with my career in real life but that’s my character in the film. In real life, I have never been told that ‘we can’t sign you for a film because the hero is short’ but that’s what happens in Paisa Vasool and I end up being an item number girl. I play a girl from Delhi who is blunt and outspoken, speaks Hindi very fluently and she smokes. I was not very comfortable with the smoking bit, honestly. because I feel it affects young people and sends out wrong signals since many people would be seeing it and aping that sort of thing. But I had no way out—the character had to be shown smoking.

Is Paisa Vasool about empowerment of women?

Though the two main characters are women—it’s not a film about creating awareness about women’s plight. This is a fun film; these two girls get involved in a criminal plot from what started as a prank.

Why was Samay a damp squib?

The film was much ahead of its time. It’s the sort of film which will keep and come into its own later.

Is it true that Manisha and you had a fight during the film’s shooting?

These are all rumours—you can’t fight with Manisha. She is a lovely person. It’d be difficult to fight with her. We got along very well.

There is an item number in this film too?

Yes. It’s a take-off on Helen’s cabaret numbers from earlier films but it’s all in good humour. It has been deliberately designed as a cabaret number in the style Helen made popular.

What are you working on currently?

I’m doing Shah Rukh Khan’s film directed by Farah Khan—Main Hoon Na. TWF

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