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Deccan Herald » Entertainment » Detailed Story
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Just arrived
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‘Hazaar Khwaishein Aisi’ has come and gone. But its leading lady Chitrangada Singh is a portrait of confidence, writes
SUBHASH K JHA.
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Everyone is talking about Chitrangada Singh’s resemblance to Smita Patil. “Actually a lot of people used to tell me I look like Smita. When I was in Standard IX, I was approached by a documentary maker who was making a film on Smita to play Smita’s younger version. I didn’t take it seriously. But it was the first time that the likeness struck me. I can’t take such an awesome compliment seriously. I’ve a long way to go,” gushes the Meerut girl now residing in Delhi.
Chitrangada is an army officer’s daughter. “I knew no one from the film industry. I never thought it would be easy for me to be in movies. But I’ve always been a total movie buff -acting, dancing, singing through school. Then I did a number of ads and music videos. Hazaar Khwaishein Aisi just happened. Someone from Delhi suggested my name to Sudhir Mishra.”
She admits the political ideology of Mishra’s film was a bit too much for her. “Sudhir briefed me about it. But he told me not to get into the politics.
“He wanted me to look at my character Geeta as just a girl who could belong to any phase or time. ‘Don’t let anyone intellectualise the character too much for you,’ he warned me. I internalised her to the best of my abilities. But I must admit I was daunted by the complexity of the character. I had never done a film before. But Sudhir was very confident.
“After release one of the best compliments I received was from a critic who said I don’t act but react. That’s exactly what I tried to do. There were such fantastic theatre actors in Hazaar Khwaishein….I had to go purely by instinct. I kept it simple.”
The Delhi girl is now settled in Mumbai, and looking for greener pastures. She admits she isn’t being offered hardcore commercial cinema. “I guess because I’ve done the offbeat role well they presume I can’t do anything else. Fortunately I’ve another film coming up. It’s called Kal directed by Sudhir Mishra’s former assistant Ruchi Narain. I play a regular 26-year old Mumbai girl. It’s a female-centric plot. And it’s completely in Hindi. It isn’t an out-and-out commercial film. But it’s a thriller, a murder mystery..Then I’m talking to other people about other roles….”
She trails off. And you look at her as yet another avant garde actress unsure of her next move after the first off-mainstream step into cinema. “The response to my performance in Hazaar Khwaishein …has been fantastic. Vishal Bhardwaj insists he’ll write a film only for me. That’s how much I’ve inspired him. Ashutosh Gowariker keeps calling me amazing. Ketan Mehta has seen the film repeatedly.”
Tell her Hazaar Khwaishein hasn’t worked at the boxoffice and Chitrangada protests. “I think it has worked on some level. I’ve got calls from youngsters who don’t relate to the politics but love the love story in the film. It’s amazing how differently everyone has interpreted the work. Some friends had to sit in the third row of a theatre and watch it…no tickets!!”
Oooh..Khwaishein producers Pritish Nandy Communications should be happy to hear that.
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Sunday, May 15, 2005
