10 | The Film Street Journal March 2013

•••coverSTORY

The Film Street Journal March 2013 | 11

Starting off as a model at age 16, Bipasha Basu accidentally, not intentionally, landed in the entertainment world. She

came, she dared, and she conquered. But from her choice of fi lms to her relationship status, everything has been questioned/scrutinized, time and again. Through it all, Basu remains unperturbed.

She can handle it, including the new tag of ‘Scream Queen’ which has come her way through a maze of edgy, horror fi lms that seem to have become her forte. There is, for instance, Aatma coming up soon after Raaz 3.

The earnest retort to that remark would most times be, it’s a novel concept. But how different can horror in any form be? “Aatma is like a triangle between Nawaz’s character Abhay, my character Maya and (child artiste) Doyel’s character, Nia,” Bipasha warmly explains. “It’s about how love can be good on one hand and how it can actually lead to a lot of problems too. Nawaz wanted to do the fi lm because he has a real-life element to it. He is very attached to his child, his daughter. And he could understand the pain of being kept away from a child. He was emotionally involved with the fi lm.”

Nawaz is a dad, he plays one in Aatma. Was it diffi cult for Bips to

play a mother? “What I have learned is, even though I don’t have a child of my own, I am very good with kids. I am very attached to my niece Nia, I can’t live without her. But still I have never spent more than two hours with her in a day. But for the fi rst time in my life I was spending like 8-10 hours a day with a fi ve-and-a-half-year-old kid who called me didi. She was so attached to me and I to her that throughout the day she would stick to me. She would be on my lap and she is not like those kids who lose their

ON A WEEKLY BASIS I GET 10-12 SUPERNATURALFILM OFFERS. PLEASE, I AM THE BIGGEST FATTU IN TOWN AND SUDDENLY I HAVE BECOME THIS FACE OF FEAR!

innocence in this business. She is very raw, very like a kid. When she was sleepy she would come sleep on my lap, when she was grumpy she would come and be grumpy around me, when she was tantrumy she would come and say something, she did all kinds of antics around me. So it really evoked a strong sense of protection in me. I was fi ercely protective about her on the set.”

Was her niece Nia thrilled that Doyel’s character was named after her in Aatma? “No, she will never take it well,” dimples the indulgent aunt. “Nia is a five-year-old kid and I had to ask her for permission to use her name in the film because she has a mind of her own. And she said, ‘No!’ I tried to ask her again after three days, she still said ‘No.’ Then I told my sister that I have gone ahead and used it and she said to me, now you just pray that she doesn’t see the promos on TV because if she hears her name, and she sees you with

WHEN VIKRAM BHATT CAME TO ME WITH A FABULOUS CONCEPT FOR A HORROR FILM, I TOLD HIM, I HAVE JUST DONE AATMA AND BEFORE THAT RAAZ 3, I WANT TO TAKE A BREAK

EVEN THOUGH I DON’T HAVE A CHILD OF MY OWN, I AM VERY GOOD WITH KIDS. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I WAS SPENDING 8-10 HOURS A DAY WITH A FIVE-AND-A-HALF-YEAR-OLD. SHE WOULD SLEEP ON MY LAP

a kid, you’ve had it. Nia is very jealous, she doesn’t like me with any kid. So I am going to have a tough time when she sees it.” Oops, tricky situation!

It’s a scary time anyway to be Bipasha Basu today. Raaz 3, Aatma and then Creature, why just the horror genre? “When you see Aatma and Creature, you’ll know why I have done them. If you put yourself in the place of an actress

in the Hindi cinema business, you will understand why I did a Raaz 3 and why I am doing an Aatma. It’s because of these fabulous roles which don’t come to you all the time in usual entertaining films.

“Then again, nothing is being planned,” she clarifies. “When Vikram (Bhatt) came to me with the concept of a horror film and it was fabulous, I told him, I have just done Aatma and before that

I HAVE BEEN A BIG FAN OF JAWS, ANACONDA, KING KONG, JURASSIC PARK, WHO DOESN’T LOVE THOSE FILMS? I LOVE CREATURE FILMS AND I LOVE WORKING WITH VIKRAM

Pic:

Yog

en S

hah

The Film Street Journal March 2013 | 13

that’s what acting is all about.

What’s the one sore point of being in Bollywood?

As women we get such little opportunities in this business, there’s not much to do. You have to look pretty. We talk about how things are changing for women. But the roles written are very short-sighted for us. Society is dominated by men and this is a hero-centric business.

And the one big plus of being around so long?

I feel very blessed that after years of work, I have reached that position where people come to me with the germ of an idea and if I give the nod, the fi lm is actually made. And I am an active part of that fi lm. Right from the time it is a concept to the scripting,

I KISSED MY BOYFRIEND IN JISM, SO IT WAS NOT AN ISSUE. IN BACHNA AE HASEENO, FOR ONE MONTH I TRIED TO CANCEL THE SHOOT, IT WAS PETRIFYING TO KISS RANBIR AND WE HAD TO DO IT TWICE!

Raaz 3. I said, ‘Vikram, I want to take a break and I cannot work with you instantly. We’ll do it, but we’ll do it after a gap.’ He reworked everything and came to me again with a germ of an idea on the first creature film in India. I have been a big fan of Jaws, Anaconda, King Kong, Jurassic Park, who doesn’t love those films? They have an additional thrill to them. It’s going to be the first creature film in India, I love creature films and it’s Vikram, I love working with Vikram. It’s also going to be an author-backed role, so we started working on the concept, on a story, and it’s really shaped out fantastic.

“But what is happening is that it is kind of setting a very strong trend and I hear such strange words coined for me. So now even I say, ‘Yeah, yeah chalo, I am the face of fear,’ or ‘Scream queen? Fine, I am a scream queen!’ What can I do about it? Then, on a weekly basis, and I am not kidding you, I get 10-12 supernatural film offers. It’s becoming so bizarre. I have producers telling me, please give us a date, we’ll figure out the story, but we’ll do a supernatural film. Please, I am the biggest fattu in town and suddenly I have become this face of fear!”

She who takes pleasure in scaring people, let’s take a quick look at the person behind the Scream Queen through a quick Q & A.

Who is Bipasha really?I did a light role in Jodi Breakers

where I loved my character Sonali; she was very much like the way I am in person. I am the very opposite of my other on-screen characters. But

FITNESS IS A RELIGION, YOU HAVE TO RESPECT THE BODY THAT GIVES YOU EVERYTHING

WHILE KISSING I HAD DIALOGUES ALSO. I TOLD EMRAAN, ‘YOU ARE THE SPECIALIST. YOU JUST DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO AND LET’S JUST DO ONE TAKE’

to the story, to casting, to going on shooting locations, post-prod, music, edit, I am a part of everything.

The Film Street Journal March 2013 | 15

Anything that scares the Scream Queen?I am scared of everything; just name it and I am scared!

I am scared of stage shows, dance shows. No, I am not scared of dancing; I am scared that I will forget or I will fall, or I will trip, or my change won’t happen on time.

I’m also scared of the unknown. I think it’s a childhood phobia, I can’t ever sleep alone. I am scared of the dark. If somebody comes from the back, I will jump, like jump up! Recently it was so funny when I went straight from the gym to Basilico for coffee with friends. A journalist I know came from behind and said, ‘Hi!’ And I jumped! My friend’s coffee flew! And he was like, are you in Aatma mode? I’m like, this is my mode forever. I always jump!”

And one supernatural incident that she’ll never forget?

Many years back, I was shooting for a film called Gunaah at Mukesh Mills and that place is apparently haunted, it was later burnt down. We were shooting on the upper floors and nobody really thought about the haunted bit. It was not a horror film, it was just a thriller. I had this long monologue to give while going towards the trolley. Everybody was in one room and

AnytI

I amscarefall,

I’childof thjumpwentfrien‘Hi!’was mode

Andforg

MGunahaunon ththe hthriltowa

EVERY TIME I WOULD SAY, ‘PARSHURAM…’ I WOULD FORGET EVERYTHING. IT WENT ON TO LIKE 15, 18 TAKES. LATER I HEARD THAT ONE OF SAROJ KHAN’S DANCERS HAD GOT POSSESSED IN THAT ROOM AND SHE HAD DIED AFTER A STRANGE, MONTH-LONG FEVER. I FREAKED OUT!

WHILE FILMING RAAZ 3, I HAD SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

THROUGHOUT, IT WAS DRAINING ME OUT

EVERY DAY

I in another. My staff would touch up my face and hair and go. I am usually very good with dialogues, I don’t forget much. I had to scream ‘Parshuram …something!’ and start walking towards the trolley. But every time I would say, ‘Parshuram…’, I would forget everything, I would not be able to take a step forward. It happened to me some 12 times. Mohit Suri was the assistant then. He would sit and go over the lines with me and I would get it all fine. Vikram who was doing a patchwork shoot for that film came over and asked me what was going on. I told him that I had no idea, I knew the dialogues but I would just go blank. It went on to like 15, 18 takes and Vikram called me out of the room. At that time an attendant from Mukesh Mills told Vikram, unko mat jaane do udhar, don’t let her go to that room. I didn’t understand what was going on; they just sent me to the makeup van. Later I heard that a month earlier, one of Saroj Khan’s dancers had got possessed in that room and she had died after a strange, month-long fever. I freaked out! Then they called some baba and they gave me some phoonk ka paani or something to drink. I did whatever they told me to because I was so scared. And I said, I am not coming back here. The next day they got a pundit to do a pooja there. And that pundit also had an accident!

16 | The Film Street Journal March 2013

Shiver! Horror fi lms rob one’s sleep. How does Bipasha cope with fear?

I do have sleepless nights. While fi lming Raaz 3, I had sleepless nights throughout, because the role was too evil and too dark. So it was draining me out every day. And now with this new fi lm, Aatma, I have just started getting sleepless nights again. Once I’ve started dubbing, because I’m seeing it all every day, it kind of freaks me out. But yeah, I guess you have to face your fears.

And she is fi t to fi ght, right? I always believe that it is not about

how you look that you have to work out for; for me, fi tness is a religion that you need to follow. You have to respect the body that gives you everything. It gives you ambition, it gives you love, it gives you success,

it gives you money, and if you don’t invest in it, if you don’t take out some time to look after yourself, it’s just so stupid. It’s nice that India is getting a little more aware, the fi tness industry is booming now though it is happening for all the wrong reasons because the pressure is more on

looking good while for me, it’s about feeling good. It’s about having a really disease-free old-age, not to be dependent on anyone. So my reasons to be fi t are completely different from anybody else’s.

Does Bipasha get nervous or is she blasé about doing intimate kissing scenes?

Terrible! I am so terrible at it because see, I kissed my boyfriend in Jism, so it was not an issue. Then I did it in Bachna Ae Haseeno. It was so scary, for one month I tried to cancel the kiss. Adi (Aditya Chopra) and Siddharth Anand would laugh at me. It was petrifying to kiss Ranbir and we had to do it twice. The third time

was in Raaz 3. It was a very hectic one and when I saw it I wanted to like just…die! While kissing I had dialogues also, because it was part of a plan to seduce and get some work done. When I had to dub for it, I was like, ‘Vikram I have never done this, I can’t do this! How am I supposed

I LOVE BRAD PITT. I BOUGHT A BEETLE AND NAMED HIM BRAD. AND I SAY, I’M GOING FOR A DRIVE WITH BRAD!

IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH HARMAN BAWEJA? NO, I’M NOT! WHEN I AM INTO SOMETHING, I AM ALWAYS GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT. I RESPECT RELATIONSHIPS

to kiss and dub?’ I was so nervous; I didn’t know what I was doing. I told Emraan, ‘You are the specialist, I don’t know what I am going to do today, I am blank. So you just do what you have to and let’s just do one take.’ It was scary.

The one man always on her mind?Brad Pitt. I love Brad Pitt, I obsess

over him, and everybody knows that. I bought a Beetle and named him Brad. And I say, I’m going for a drive with Brad. Just to say that, I named my car Brad.

And her last word on her latest hush-hush relationship (with Harman Baweja)?

(laughs) Well, if there is a relationship, I am the kind of person who will give a lot of respect to the man in my life. The thing is, the media jumps the gun. Every time I am seen with a guy, it’s a RELATIONSHIP! Why? Can’t two people have coffee? You have to know the person to get into a relationship. And how do you know a person? You go out, you talk, and if you like the person you meet again. You meet in a group, you see the surrounding...it takes time! How can you put a gun to my head and say, you are in a relationship?

In a relationship with Harman Baweja? No, I’m not! When I am confi dent that I am into something, I am always going to talk about it. Even if I don’t talk about it, I’ll accept it because I respect relationships!

– Priyanka Ketkar

The Film Street Journal March 2013 | 17

JUST NAME IT AND I AM SCARED! I AM SCARED OF STAGE SHOWS, DANCE SHOWS. I AM SCARED THAT I WILL FORGET OR I WILL FALL, OR I WILL TRIP, OR MY CHANGE WON’T HAPPEN ON TIME