After Madhuri Dixit, it’s Amrita Rao who has inspired M.F. Husain to do a series of paintings after watching her in Vivah. Amrita is over the moon. “I could swoon with delight,” she squeals pleasurably. “I mean this is Husain Saab! The last time he painted someone from a film by Soorajji it was Madhuri Dixit after Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!. Apparently Husain Saab has seen Vivah a large number of times. And he decided I’m worthy of the honour of being painted by him. I am like, wow! You know I’m Madhuriji’s biggest fan. If ever there was a living legend, she’s it. You know, Husain Saab is a big fan of Soorajji’s work. I remember seeing Madhuriji’s paintings in the Rajshri office. And now it’s my turn. What more could I ask for?”

Tell her it’s the dignity of her role in Vivah and she gets overly modest. “You know, I feel any actress would shine if presented the way I’ve been in Vivah. Actually all of us — Soorajji, Shahid and I — were on test in Vivah. Unlike Madhuriji’s glamorous outfits and presentation in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! my glamour lay in my simplicity. I guess it’s the quality that appealed to Husain Saab. I feel like pinching myself each time I think of being part of Husain Saab’s art. This would be my most memorable and colourful brush with life. I’m so thrilled I can’t stop blushing. But, you know what? In my heart of hearts I had always dreamt of being Husain Saab’s muse. Now it’s come true!”

Amrita says she needs to tread very carefully from now on about her next career move. She is just back from a multicity tour of North India. “The reviews of Vivah said otherwise,” she smiles. “But the response we got in places like Jaipur, Kanpur, Faridabad and Lucknow told another story. Anyway, the critics were only doing their job. Vivah was like a baby that I had. Then the neighbours decided to come and name the baby. It does feel odd when your baby is scrutinised from the outside.”

In Faridabad, Amrita says, she communicated with a “hardcore” audience. “To see such acceptance was very heartening. Is Vivah my own Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!? Wow! It’s growing. When people tell me they’re watching Vivah with their entire family I feel a sense of pride. Soorajji was mentally prepared for a cautious response. He was told the younger audience wouldn’t take to the film. But you can’t make suppositions on behalf of the public.”

Amrita says she had no difficulty playing the homely, cultured, middleclass character. “Fortunately, just before I got down to shooting Vivah, I visited Mathura and Vrindavan. I visited the temples, saw the girls in salwar-kameez. So I’ve seen how girls dress talk and behave in culturally rich small towns of India. I don’t find such unspoilt gentleness unnatural. Those who do, are perhaps delinked from the real India. It wasn’t difficult for me to envision what Soorajji narrated to me.”

Amrita’s character, Poonam, appears wonderfully measured in her body and spoken language. “Soorajji wanted me to convey everything in silences and hints. Initially, I was confused because I had never done anything so subtle. So I kept questioning him. Soorajji is a rare director who doesn’t look at shots through the video monitor. He looks straight through the camera. So he knows exactly what an actor would look like on the screen. If Soorajji wasn’t there to support me I couldn’t have done half the things I did in Vivah. He’s that conductor of the orchestra who knows how to tune the actors. I had to be convinced about what I was doing for audiences to be convinced.” As for the Shahid-Amrita vibes, Amrita giggles. “Soorajji transformed us into the characters, Poonam and Prem. Both Shahid and I know we had huge responsibilities put on us by Soorajji. Fortunately, neither of us came from a background where we distracted each other from doing our work. We knew we had to work towards making the characters look real. In fact, Shahid and I will definitely work together again if we get the opportunity.”

What next? “Good films with good makers. As for my next release, E. Niwas’ My Name Is Anthony Gonzalves, I play a Catholic girl named Karen who is an assistant director in his films. That’s my only assignment at the moment.” She jumps to the defence of the film’s director. “How many director have boasted of a National Award at such a young age? I’m impressed by Niwas’ clarity of thought.”