Talktime | Pooja Batra
Haseena Maan Jaayegi fame Pooja Batra, who recently played an astronaut in her Hollywood debut film One Under The Sun, talks to Mehul Malpani about her Bollywood psychological thriller Mirror Game: Ab Khel Shuru and how Bollywood has evolved
After a hiatus of two years post ABCD2, you are back with your movie Mirror Game: Ab Khel Shuru. What was keeping you busyIJ
I was away from Bollywood but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have work. Did Punjabi film Killer Punjabi and Hollywood's One Under The Sun. Work is work whether it’s Bollywood, Hollywood or regional cinema and it should be recognised.
How was the experience of playing a psychologist in this movieIJ
It was fun to play Dr Roy who investigates Prof Jai Verma’s (Pravin Dabas) case and analyses his mental state. He is the main suspect in his wife’s murderer. The story is based in the US where nobody can be convicted without analysing his mental and psychological state. Thus, in this film, I have to figure out the game being played. It is also about how I get involved with the case.
What were the challengesIJ
To stay serious all the time! I can’t be serious. I love to have fun and do lots of masti on the sets. That was difficult (laughs). To get into the shoes of the character, I did some research and watched thrillers. One of them was the French thriller Tell No One. The movie is brilliant and watching it made me realise what was shown can happen to anybody in real life. I love such films as one gets to learn a lot from them.
How was it to work with Salman Khan, Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Jackie Shroff.
Working with Salman Khan in Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye along with Rani and Jackie Shroff was amazing. We had a good time. It was fun shooting for Dil Ne Fir Yaad Kiya with Govinda and Tabu which was a take-off on an old film Doosra Aadmi. Working with Anil Kapoor in Virasat was a great learning experience as he comes across as a fine, disciplined and committed actor. He was full of energy which is very rare to find these days in other actors.
How have things changed in BollywoodIJ
Scripts have become better, movies are being made on a larger scale and budgets have also increased. Back then, not much was spent on graphics or special effects. Acting style, concepts and even audience have changed. Since, the competition is so fierce, films are getting better every day. So much so that we can compete with Hollywood.
You have been in the fashion industry too. What is trendingIJ
Fashion is constantly changing and it also repeats itself. You see, Elephant pants, Gogo pants, Gogo glasses were in fashion back in 70s, they came back in 90s and they have come back again so, it’s like a cycle. The constant change is the good thing about fashion which I really like, otherwise it’s so boring when you wake up in the morning and there’s been the same stuff to wear. We can’t wear one kind of dress all the time, we’re not living in China.
How is your casting company going onIJ
GlowBell Inc is doing great. Instead of finding new actors, we cast known people from Hollywood and Bollywood for branding and films. We casted Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards for Kambakkht Ishq. We do pop-up events and launched a radio station called Mera Sangeet in los Angeles and San Francisco. We also do campaigning of Indian films that get nominated for Oscar.
What is in the pipelineIJ
My next is a Hollywood documentary film titled Save Her. It is on human trafficking. A lot of Hollywood actors have sung for the background score just to bring this subject into popular domain. India being a country where human trafficking happens at a very high rate, I would want all Indians to watch this documentary.