Amrita Arora

The saucy Amrita Arora is on a high with three back-to-back film releases...

After a long famine, you seem to be enjoying a feast now with three films in a row — Hello, Heroes and Golmaal Returns.

Yeah. I was working on one after the other for one-and-a half years. Now all the films have come in one month and done well. So it’s really exciting.

How would you compare Golmaal Returns with the original Golmaal?

I think its madder. Everybody’s loving the movie. We are getting a huge reaction. Rohit knew that there were going to be very big expectations from this film and he has done a superb job. It’s going to be a stand-alone film in a comedy genre for a long time.

This is your second comedy film after Awaara Paagal Deewana. How was the experience?

We had a tough time shooting because we used to just burst out laughing while saying the dialogues. Rohit had such a tough time controlling us.

How was it working opposite a seasoned comedian like Arshad Warsi?

He was completely hilarious the way he delivers his lines. But everybody was very spontaneous with the lines.

Off-screen who was the funniest on the sets?

Tusshar (laughs). He is hysterical. First of all, he is the most sincere person and a great actor. Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) and I couldn’t stop laughing when we would watch him perform.

We heard Kareena and you had a blast shooting in Goa?

Definitely. Shooting with your friends is always fun. On sets, everyone was fooling around. It was like a working holiday.

There are four heroines in the film — Kareena, Celina, Anjana and you. Were there catfights on the sets?

Nooo (laughs). All of us are mature individuals.

It’s a known fact that Kareena and you are buddies. Did Celina and Anjana ever feel left out?

Not at all. On the sets, everyone would sit together and chat. Off the sets, after pack up, we would all work out together. The atmosphere was just great.

On a recent magazine cover, you look really lean. Is it Kareena’s influence?

Not really! I have always been someone who enjoyed working out and being in shape. Bebo definitely introduced me to yoga, which has really worked for me and changed my life.

You have a deglamourised role in both Golmaal Returns and Hello. Considering your glamorous persona, was it a deliberate ploy to try something different?

I completely loved my character in both the films. Wearing a salwar kameez and no make-up in Hello was exactly how I wanted to play a character. It wasn’t difficult for me to play this character, but it was difficult to relate to the character. I completely loved my look in Hello.

Was it family time shooting for Hello?

It was like walking into my house. The comfort level was great because I was working with my family members like my brother-in-law Arbaaz, his brother Sohail, his sister Alvira who did my clothes and their brother-in-law Atul who directed the film.

But were you comfortable playing wife to Arbaaz, your sister’s husband?

We never really shot together. There were no awkward scenes. So I was very comfortable. I have a great comfort level with Arbaaz. I look up to him as a brother. It was a little awkward just knowing the fact that the audiences are seeing Arbaaz and me as husband and wife in the film.

How do you rate Arbaaz as a husband?

Umm. Well, I think Malaika is a truly lucky woman. She should thank God for giving her a husband like Arbaaz.

I heard that you were not happy with your role in Heroes?

Not really. I think it has just been blown out of proportion by the media. That’s why I have refrained from commenting on it.

You have a big film coming up in the Akshay Kumar-Kareena starrer Kambakht Ishq?

Kambakht Ishq is going to showcase me in a completely new light. I can’t talk about it right now. I also have Saeed Mirza’s Savdhan Meri Jaan. I am trying out very different genres and different characters. It’s an exciting phase for me. I am doing both big budget as well as small budget films.

There’s a lot of buzz about a new man in your life and there’s talk that your family doesn’t approve of him because of the age difference?

Not at all. I have very strong family roots. It’s rubbish that my family doesn’t like him. It’s completely false and very rude. Beyond that I don’t want to comment because it’s my private life.

Don’t you also want to be like Malaika — get married and be settled and have a child?

Someday in the future. At the moment I am concentrating on my work. I am still young and have some good work coming up.

Mauli Singh

(Bollywood News Service)