| Even as Lara Dutta awaits her first Yash Raj film, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (which releases next month), she's been on a hectic time schedule for the last few months. In an exclusive interview with HiTLIST, she talks about the film, marriage plans and a crazy fan who wouldn't take no for an answer! We hear that recently a man didn't allow your flight from Muscat to take off. What was that all about?
Gosh! How do you know this? Don't even remind me of that incident! It was scary to begin with.
The airport authorities called out my name and asked me to step out of the aircraft just when the doors were about to close for take-off. They said that a man was obstructing the aircraft and wanted to talk to me.
Actually, he was a crewmember of some airline and hence had access to the tarmac. To top it all, he was staying in the same hotel as I was. So I guess he knew my departure plans. You came out and spoke to him?
I had to. But thankfully, they didn't allow him to come up to the aircraft. So I was speaking to him from the top of the stairs connected to the aircraft, while he was standing below! What did he tell you?
He said he wanted to marry me. Oh, the 'mujhse shaadi karogi' types. What did you say?
(laughs) Obviously, no! Any marriage plans?
Nee…. (makes a face). You almost said 'never'?
Yeah (laughs), but I stopped short. I thought, 'What if I change my mind later?' Are yoy excited about Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (JBJ)?
Certainly. And I remember how it came to me. I was in Bangalore when I got a call from director Shaad Ali's office.
Big films tend to come to me when I'm not in town, it seems! Andaz fell in my lap in exactly the same way. Those who loved the madness of Bunty aur Babli will definitely enjoy JBJ. Tell us about your role in JBJ.
Adi (Aditya Chopra) was clear that I look different in this film, so Aki Narula designed my look.
I play a Pakistani French girl, so I had to speak Hindi with a French accent. That was difficult and took a lot of trial-and-error to get right. There was a problem at the Sri Gurusingh
Sabha Gurdwara in Southhall, London, when you and Abhishek were shooting.
The problem was on the grounds of gurdwara and not inside it. Some people from the foreign crew were smoking and objections were raised. That foreign crew even had scantily clad women?
No. The objection was only against smoking, and rightly so. Have you kept in touch with Robert Redford after sharing the stage with him in Barcelona at the 3rd GSM Mobile Conference?
He is a very charming guy. I did email once to his office, but I guess they are busy now with the Sundance Film Festival. What's next after JBJ?
David Dhawan's Partner. I play a gutsy girl who usually locks horns with people but ironically becomes a damsel in distress! It's fun to be
paired opposite Salman Khan.
He is wonderful and shooting for Partner has been fun. And hey, how can I forget, Govinda kept calling me 'Pride of the Nation' and 'Beauty of Punjab'! | 
Anupamaa
