I loved Asin's role in Ghajini: Sonam Kapoor
Rajeev Masand speaks to Sonam Kapoor about her flop debut Saawariya and her upcoming flick Delhi 6.
Rajeev Masand: It's going to be 16 months between Saawariya and Delhi 6.
Sonam Kapoor: When you say 16 months, it sounds like such a long time. It's one year and four months.
Rajeev Masand: Is it difficult to find work after a flop debut or were you waiting for the right film to come along?
Sonam Kapoor: Actually I signed Delhi 6 two months before Saawariya came out. Obviously I have had a lot of offers but I was doing Delhi 6 at the time and I didn't have time. And I do one film at a time, I have learnt that from my dad. I want to concentrate and not dilute myself.I don't want to change myself around for each film. Like if you see Saawariya and if you see Delhi 6, they are diametrically opposite characters. You need that space and time to change yourself and get into that whole thing. When you come out of it also, I think you need one or two months to start a new project. I don't know how other people do it. I have no idea how they do it, but I honestly cannot do it. I need to do one thing at a time.
Rajeev Masand: Both Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra are very fiercely protective of their vision and they are both very individualistic filmmakers in terms of the movies that they make. What were the difference in their working styles?
Sonam Kapoor: With Mr Bhansali, he needs everything to be his visual. Like even small things like the hair has to be exactly how he imagined and the lamp has to be placed exactly where he wants it. Everything is very constructed and choreographed - though that has it's own beauty. It's completely his vision. With Rakeysh everything is organic. There is a story and he doesn't let you go out of the story, but at the same time, you are doing your own thing. In the first two weeks, I was a little rattled when I was getting into shooting, but then I spoke to Mr Mehra and he said that, 'Listen, my style is that everything is organic, everything has to be what you feel. You do your job. And I will just blow the whistle if I feel you are going beyond the boundaries of what the character is. If you are yourself and the character, that's more than enough'.
So I think the difference is that Mr Bhansali is more like an oil painting and Mr Mehra is more like a water painting - everything is very improvised and organic, even though there is a bound script in both the sets.
Rajeev Masand: A lot of your comfort of working with Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya came from the fact that you knew each other as children and that you had worked as assistant directors on Black with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. With Abhishek Bachchan, you did not have that history. Did that hence take a little longer establishing a rapport, camaraderie and a comfort level?
Sonam Kapoor: No see, with Ranbir, it was fortunate that we were playing friends in Saawariya. It was like this instant connection that happens between people and it was more like a friendship. People obviously commented a lot about chemistry and all that but it's worked for Saawariya. With Delhi 6, it's different. I have met Abhishek a lot socially but in the film, it's like we get to know each other through the film. So, it sort of worked for the film, so I am lucky. So it's been fun. And Abhishek is young so I can totally chill with him, hang out with him, discuss things with him. But at the same time he has done 35 films so he is experienced enough to advise me on certain things and help me out of certain tight spots.
Rajeev Masand: From whatever little we have seen of Delhi 6 in the promos, your character goes from a simple girl to a young, hip, trendy girl who switches her clothes and looks while she probably goes out to meet friends. Did that strike a chord?
Sonam Kapoor: I think all Indian girls have that. When you are at home, you try to be all sweet and nice in front of your parents so they don't fire the living daylights out of you and then you go clubbing or you want to go meet your friends and you are wearing a singlet underneath and you are dad's like you should wear a jacket over that or you will have boys eve-teasing you or something like that. So you wear it, but at the end of the day you think, 'who's going to look at me' and you just take off the jacket and go. That's what every girl does. So because I am playing a very normal, Delhi girl, it was just a part of her character - a small part of her character.
Rajeev Masand: What's the last film that you saw which made you go, 'I wish I was in this'?
Sonam Kapoor: That's really tough. I think it was Ghajini. I liked Asin's role a lot in it. I don't know if I would have suited the role but I would have loved to do the film. That was the one film. I liked her character. It was a fully commercial character but there were things for her to do. It was a good role.
Rajeev Masand: Well, thank you so much for talking to us.
Sonam Kapoor: Thank you.
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