Esha : Home alone and Scared!

By Subhash K Jha

Esha Deol loved playing a bhoot in Ram Gopal Varma's Darling.

"I think ghosts are normal entities. Ramu made it a point not to make the ghost in-your-face spooky. But it did get scary specially in our new house in Goregaon. When mom wasn't around I'd look anxiously under the bed to spot spooks.

Fortunately doing Darling was fun. You can't call it a horror film. My character goes through so many changes. Ramu edits the film in his head before he starts. He knows exactly what he wants. Like Mani Ratnam."

Ramu and Esha hit it off very well. "He's not one of those directors who doesn't know which direction to go into. And then you end up stuck…and stupid."

She's of course hinting at the disaster that was Anubhav Sinha's Cash.

Esha sighs, "On the script level it sounded so good. It's so sad that when one isn't able to execute such a zany idea. When I saw the film I couldn't understand it. All of us in the cast were quite put off by the outcome.

…Look, just because I was in the film I can't go ooh and aah. One can't fool the audience. I think you should ask Anubhav Sinha what went wrong.

When we were shooting everything was fine. He took a lot of care with certain sequences. At the end of it there was nothing. I still don't know what happened to the diamond at the end."

On a brighter note she got along famously with her co-star Shamita Shetty. "She's a very nice girl. All South Indians are nice girls," she jokes impishly. "Shamita and I were together away from home in Cape Town for a long time. She was cool.

We gymed together. She has the best abs right now. Mine? I'm bored with mine. Of course I'll continue with my fitness level. But it isn't obsession. It's a habit. If I don't work-out I don't feel right."

Esha's sister Ahana doesn't work out. "But she dances, and like my mom that keeps her really fit. Ahana is a laid- back girl. She's still to make up her mind about what to do."

Esha continues, "I loved playing Geeta in Darling. I appreciate the fact that he considered me for a role like this….It's an eccentric part, yes. I enjoy playing traumatized parts. That gives me a high."

She's done a series of not-so-great films with her Darling co-star Fardeen Khan. "We work well together. We share a great rapport. I've known Fardeen for a very long time. He's a good friend…Though people think I'm too aloof to be friendly."

Esha's next release is a midair thriller called Hijack with Shiny Ahuja. "He plays my knight in shining armour. It's an action thriller directed by Kunal Shivdasani. People said I should do something realistic. So here I am. I'm also doing a film called Jannat with Mahesh Bhatt. "

Talk veers to Ram Gopal Varma's Aag released just a week earlier. Did she regret not playing Basanti? "Are you mad? There can't be another Sholay. And there can't another Basanti…after my mom."

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