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Sharmila Taliculam

Pooja Bhatt talks nineteen to the dozen, she is a sound-bite-a-minute interviewee...

Not!

At least, when I met her, she was none of those things. Rather, she gave the impression of having matured, got over her talking jag, cooled down…

In fact, the only thing that has her animated is the under-production film Tamanna, being directed by her father Mahesh Bhatt and which, after three changes of co-star, is finally nearing completion.

Come to think of it, she hasn't been on the covers of film glossies much of late, so I ask whether she has gone off interviews totally. "Who, me?" she shoots back. "No, actually I've given six interviews in the last two days. It's just that I had said everything that I had to, and I didn't want to repeat myself."

Ask her about Tamanna , though, and the words gush out with the fluency she is famed for. "Tamanna is the story of a eunuch who picks up a child from the streets," Pooja, who is producing the film herself, explains. "The child grows up and wants to know about her biological parents. On realising that she was abandoned because she was a girl, she rejects them in favour of the eunuch who has given her more in life. It's a true story, and I am playing the girl. We were planning to shoot the climax this month. Unfortunately, it won't be possible as my shoulder has dislocated (during a shooting stint in the Seychelles). Still, we are planning to release the film by October."

All this in one breath. So I ask her whether this film marks her entry into full-time production. "Apart from my film, I am producing TV serials and plan to make more films too. Mine is not going to be one-film-a-year production company as such."

And what of Pooja the actress? Busy as always, she says. "I am doing quite a few films which are in various stages of shooting. First, there's Kabhie Na Kabhie which is directed by Priyadarshan, my costars are Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff. Then there's Angaarey with Akshay Kumar, Sonali Bendre and Nagarjuna, Gulam with Aamir Khan, and Sanghursh with Ajay Devgan which will start in November."

Curious, I ask her how she has taken to the tedium of production. As a star she could afford to just land on the sets on her appointed dates and worry about her role, as a producer she has now to concentrate on the minutae of the film-making process. "See," she says, giving further evidence of the maturity I notice in her, "I come from a family which is into films for so many years. I am quite used to it. In fact, it was quite natural that I get into production." Unlike her father, though, Pooja is quite sure that she has no desire to get into direction.

Interestingly, Pooja has always run into controversies when she has acted in banners other than that of her uncle Robin Bhatt, or now her own banner. Ask her about that, and she points out that just recently, some magazine had said she always acted better under outside banners. "About problems," she continues, "See, it doesn't matter whose banner I work for. If it is good, then I do it, if I want to do it. My home production company happens to be making more films in a year than any other company, and my father happens to be a competent director, then why shouldn't I work for my company?"

So she is choosy about which banner she will work for, and prefers her own? "I am not being choosy about outside banners," she clarifies. "I am choosy about my films, period - whether it's my father directing it, or anybody else. I don't work with Mahesh Bhatt because he's my father, when you are working there is no family involved. It doesn't make a difference whether we work with each other or not. We work if it is convenient."

So on what basis does she accept films? "I accept films because of the role, or the set up, in terms of what the film is all about. The script, and then the director. That's the way I choose a film, I don't know how others do it."

Did she think then that her being choosy gave her better roles? "Yeah, I think I am lucky that I got to do a variety of roles. I have no reason to complain".

So why did her films flop? "I think you should ask the directors. I don't know why they flop. Can you say that my performance was bad in a movie? I am sure you can't. Chaahat is a hit as per the trade papers. It's made money for everybody involved. If you are talking about flops, then Angrakshak didn't do well, Hum Dono didn't do well."

When asked whether she had felt Chaahat, given its subject, would do well, she chooses the words to frame her answer with obvious care. "See, I have been working for seven years now and I come from a film family. I have seen this whole process of films releasing, becoming hits or flops, for too long now to expect things to do well. If I expect a film to do well, then it is for somebody else's sake, not for my own. I do my work and if you feel that my work is improving from film to film, then I have done my part of the job. I have no control about how a film will do, how a film is made or how a film shapes up. I do my work and go home. If anybody has complaints about my performance then I can answer those - but I cannot guarantee that a film will do well. That is not in my hands."

Having said that, does she think she has matured as an actress? "Definitely. When you are 17 years old and you do your first film, then when you are 24 and have done your 20th film, there is definitely going to be growth in you as an actress, as a person, as a woman. If there is no growth, then you are in the wrong profession. I have made mistakes and realised how I look good and how I don't, I have learned through experience, and it is easier to give a shot today. It's been seven years."

Did she think that she was ready to take up the responsibility of a production company? "Of course, I didn't want to limit myself to acting only. You can't act till the age of fifty. My production company will keep me safe for the rest of my life. Also, I was interested about what went into the making of a film, and that's why I got into it. It was the most natural step in the world for me."

Interestingly, her friends have of late stopped talking about her. When she first entered the industry, however, she was the most sought after person in the film fraternity, with the likes of Rahul Roy, Deepak Tijori, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala and everyone else who was anybody referring to her as a great person and a good friend. So what happened in the interim, to quieten her fan club?

"It's too late in the day for me to talk about friends and enemies," she shrugs. "It's childish, too. And if you are in the fame game, then I consider it good that people are not indifferent to you. I have no problems with anybody. I have my own little world, with my own little films and my few friends, family, that's it. That's important to me. Where the rest of the world is concerned, no one is that important for me to hate them. I have no problems getting along with anybody."

Could it be that her outspoken nature went against her? "No, I don't think so. And I am not outspoken, just honest," Pooja says. "It's just the way I am. It has not affected me, if it has, then I don't know.

"I have my hands quite full at the moment," she muses. "I am happy with the six films that I am acting in. I am open to the idea of doing films in the south, too, provided I like them. And where marriage is concerned, it won't be for another four, five years at least," she concludes.

And indicates that as far as she is concerned, she has said all she means to. At least for now…