‘It pained me when I was tagged as an item girl after Apaharan’      - Mrinalini Sharma

Mrinalini Sharma tells Jyothi Venkatesh over a glass of butter milk at the office of Moserbare the producers of Hide & Seek that she would rather do good cinema and be remembered for her good performance than titillate the audiences by shedding her clothes.

Excerpts:

Q: Hide & Seek is certainly not your debut film as an actress. Isn’t it?
A:  yes, come to think of it, my fourth film as an actress. Though Aawarapan was my debut film since I played the lead in it, the fact is that Apaharan was my first film as an actress. I was slated to do a cameo of a person who shows the transition of Ajay Devgn from light to dark in the film. Because it came in the pre climax point of the film, Prakashji chopped off all my scenes and kept only the song in which I danced.

Q: There has been a big lull in your career since Aawarapan. Why?
A:  I confess that there has been a lull after Aawarapan. To tell you the truth, I was not looking for Apaharan or for that matter Aawarapan. They happened. I was actually destined to be cast by the Bhatts in their film ‘Blue’. The title of the film gave me a scare but then the Bhatts advised me not to do a small role in the film which was eventually made as Kalyug. After Aawarapan, I also did a film called Showbiz directed by Raju Khan for the Bhatts.

Q : What went wrong?
A: I thought that the entire film industry was at my feet when I made my debut with Aawarapan. I thought that I would be flooded with offers after the release of the film, the reality sunk in that you have to take your blinkers off and need to take time to explore the place. I have had my own share of ups and downs. I bided my time. The recall value of my character Reema in Aawarapan was huge though the film was not a big hit and hence I had to get a film which was equal to it or else it would have been a big step back for me.  I waited till I got Hide & Seek.

Q: What is your role in Hide & Seek?
A: I play the role of Jyotika Jaklani in Hide & Seek. I have been paired romantically opposite Purab Kohli in the film, though Guneeta, played by Amrita Patki, who is my best friend in the film, is silently in love with him. It is interesting to note that most of the characters in the film including the one that I play derive their names from Apoorva Lakhia’s real life friends, except that of Imran, who happens to be Shawn’s friend’s name.

Q: Your role does not seem to be that of the conventional heroine!
A: Cinema is changing rapidly with the onslaught of the mushrooming multiplexes and there are no more conventional kind of heroines any more as far as Hindi Cinema is concerned. I feel that as an actor, you need a substantial role to put you in the map. Though I play one of the six characters in the film, who are abducted and put in a small in one confined space and killed one by one, though they were the best of friends twelve years back and separated due to one incident , I am quite happy that in Jyotika Jalani, I have a character that challenged me in a role that really enthralled me, when I set out to delineate it.

Q: How did you prepare for your part?
A: To prepare myself for the part, and make all the actors familiar with each other and work as a team, director Shawn Arranha made me attend a workshop with script reading. The only actor in the crew who I knew earlier was Ayaaz Khan, because he and I share a common kick box instructor

Q: How open are you for kissing and love-making sequences in your films?
A:  If the director gives me a reason for passion or sweetness in a love making scene, I will be ready as an actor to do whatever he wants me to do, though I’d not at all be ready if his idea is to sensationalize the film to draw the audiences in droves. Today I’d give credit to the audience intelligence for recognizing intelligent cinema as opposed to cinema selling sex for the sake of sensationalism.

Q: Any Time for Love…is it there..or finding?
A: I do not think there is the time, inclination or for that matter the space. I feel that it is now the time for me to entrench my feet firmly in showbiz as an actress who can be dependable to deliver. I like to challenge myself as an actor. No more lulls for me!