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RANI MUKERJI
ADEPT AT PLAYING LOVE

Attribute it to the success of Ghulam, if you like, but there’s a new ‘attitude’ to Rani Mukerji, a new spring to her step. Today, on the eve of the
release of Bichhoo, she’s as confident as ever...

Have you gradually become a “love specialist,” as one of your young directors described you?
Call me a “love specialist” or any modern day “empress of emotions”, I don’t mind. But I am an actress and an actress has to be good in everything, otherwise the only place that’s good for you is OUT. I work very hard on whatever subject I accept. Yes, I really work hard on all the love scenes I am asked to do. Most of the films being made today are love stories with lots of songs and dances and action, so it’s hardly surprising that I’ve become a specialist at them. In the Mukerji family, we set great store by learning. The industry has no place for actors if they stop learning.

I’ve always wanted to ask you this question. How did you feel when your first film, Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat, was rejected outright?
The fault was with the subject, not with me. I was recognised as a good actress but the surprising and shocking thing was, I did not get any more work till Ghulam. I still can’t understand and will never be able to understand the great mystery of Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat. Then came Ghulam and I have no time to even talk about Ghulam. The success of Ghulam created a new Rani. I am one of the busiest actresses in the industry today, the most wanted, because I am very good at my job.

What is your role in Bichhoo. How can a love story have a title like Bichhoo (scorpion) which not only looks dangerous but can also kill?
My director, Guddu Dhanoa, has asked me not to disclose anything about Bichhoo till the film is released. There are too many twists and turns involved in the subject which will, I am sure, take the audience which is used to all kinds of insignificant films of late, by total surprise.

Who is the scorpion (Bichhoo) in the film, you or Bobby?
See the film, feel the sting and decide for yourself.

Will you explain what the caption, “Scared to fall in love,” means?
Love as you know has many facets. Love has its good points and bad. Love can soothe, love can also murder. Haven’t you seen the newspapers full of lovers killing one another for love. If this is not scary, I don’t know what is. But Guddu’s film has more than all this and I still wonder whether the caption really suits the subject of the film.

How is Bobby as a co-star?
I will not flatter him by praising him. But I must say all the Deols are great gentlemen, and Bobby’s the gentlest of the lot. He was of great help to me during the making of the film. He helped me with some of the most difficult scenes, which I would not have been able to do on my own. Thank you, Bobby, for all that you have done for me. I’ll never forget the Bichhoo experience, ever.
Neither Bobby nor I can expect Bichhoo to fail in anyway. These are trying times, you know. It is a very important film for us. Guddu has made it important for us. The rest as you always know in films is in the hands of God and the hundreds and millions of Indians who are going to see the film, soon.

Ali Peter John

THE SPIRIT OF DHARAM

The first time I saw Bobby, he was hardly five. His father was shooting for a film in Vishakhapatnam. Bobby was trying to swim at the hotel pool, as his mother, Prakash, kept a keen eye trained on him. A huge crowd had come to watch the stars shoot, but for a change, all eyes were fixed on the five-year-old, handsome boy. Tired of swimming, he returned to sit on his mother’s lap, when someone came upto him and asked him what he’d do when he grew up. The boy wonder, who was an expert at acrobatics and a host of other things, didn’t blink an eye. “I’ll be an actor like Papa,” came the reply.
Bobby then vanished from my sight for years till one day, my friend Xavier Marquis told me he was about to launch Bobby Deol with Pooja Bhatt in Sarfarosh, a film to be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. I was surprised. Anyone would be. That little boy had now become this big man, about to take his big leap. But soon something went wrong, the film was shelved. Yet, what would have been a shattering experience for other men, wasn’t for Bobby. After all, he wasn’t Dharmendra’s son for nothing. He took the reversal in his stride, groomed himself and worked to improve his physique, before he faced the camera again. With home production Barsaat...

How did you feel when the Kundan Shah movie, Hum To Mohabbat Karega, flopped?
I may have studied abroad, and travelled far, but I am still an Indian at heart. It’s acting in the moves that I wanted to do. I was prepared for both success and failure when I first decided to make acting my career. I was born in a film family, after all. I was surprised at the way the film flopped. I could have punished myself, but being Dharmendra’s son, I decided to fight back. To take failure as a strong stepping stone to success. Only hard work and good work done sincerely can take me places, so I decided to work with a renewed vigour.

How far have you come as an actor?
Not even half way. There are times when I feel I won’t be able to make it, but that’s when the spirit of Dharmendra enters me, and I decide to fight back. It is this spirit and the training of my great father that has helped me to fight back whenever I find myself in trouble, whenever a film or two of mine fail at the box-office.

Do you, as a family of actors, find time at home to discuss the wrongs and rights in each other’s performances?
Of course, what’s the use of having such a great family of actors, who have stood rock-steady for years, if we don’t make use of the advantage? We Deols don’t boast, we merely let our work speak for ourselves. My father came from nowhere, and made it as one of the biggest stars India has seen. We have not even reached half way. We’re privileged to ave the great Dharmendra as father. With the blessings of my elders, especially my father and brother, I’m sure I can make it bi, too, one day.

Do your father and brother interfere in your career?
I don’t know if talking things over, discussing films and the subjects seriously can be termed interference. If exchanging ideas, challenging each other’s ideas, encouraging and inspiring each other is called interference, then I think it is interference of a very high order. But I’ve come to love such interference, I hope it stays in the family!

What are the things you’ve learnt from your father?
Humility, sincerity, hard work, sensitivity, and a helpful attitude to the poor, the sick and the downtrodden. These are some of the things our father has instilled in us. He says it’s very easy to be tough but very tough to be easy. We follow his principles and values because we know he has learnt them the hard way. We, the Deols, are a strong race. We are brave and loving, and more than anything else we care for Mother India.

Ali Peter John

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