“Mujhe bhootni ka role nahi karna tha” – Meera Chopra on 1920 London

May 6, 2016 - 10:38 AM IST

Meera Chopra is one happy girl. The first film that she had signed, 1920 London, is now hitting the screens. With an author backed role, Meera is glad that she can

“Mujhe bhootni ka role nahi karna tha” – Meera Chopra on 1920 London

showcase her acting skills to the rest of the world. While she has done films down South, Meera is enjoying the release of her big Bollywood film which has been written by Vikram Bhatt no less.

With Tinu Suresh Desai as the director (who is also gearing up for his big ticket film Rustom) and Sharman Joshi as her co-star, Meera is all excited to check out the response to third in

the franchise which has seen successful films like 1920 and 1920 Evil Returns.

A debut film is always so important. It must have required quite some thinking on your part to sign 1920 London, right?

When I shifted to Mumbai, I did get some projects but I kept refusing them. The trouble was that I was getting very bold scripts. Vikram (Bhatt) told me that the kind of look and body that I have,

people will definitely picture me in a bold avtar. I was not very keen to do that though. I told Vikram that the day he has a clean script, I would love to work with him. So when Vikram told me

about this script of 1920 London and Tinu narrated it to me, I was game for it. After all, it has a very strong role for a girl.

Not many girls begin with a horror film though.

Even during my growing up years, horror genre was always my favorite. I must have seen every horror film made, be it English or Hindi. As for 1920 London, when I saw the rough cut of the

film three-four months back, I told Vikram that this was one of his most well written scripts. As for Tinu, I had heard a lot about him and after working with him I can say that he is a very

talented director. So I got quite a few ticks here, be it the script, the director or the fact that the film is clean. I got everything that I wanted for my debut movie. I am very fortunate to be

doing this film.

The franchise factor must have played in your mind as well.

Yes, of course. When you pick up your first film, you do deliberate on whether it will work or not. 1920 is a hot franchise and both the films in there have done very well. At least you know

that your movie will get an opening. The kind of high that I get from horror is not because mujhe horror movie se darr lagta hai; it is about the kick that I get. There is something exciting about

horror as it is better than routine things in cinema; certain adrenaline rush is there. Otherwise I am not the one who gets scared with ghosts, mujhe bhooton se bilkul darr nahi lagta.

But then a girl gets possessed every time she steps into 1920 franchise, be it Adah Sharma or Tia Bajpai.

Nothing like that happens in the film though (smiles). I am running around all the time to save my husband. The film starts and ends with me. Aur sabse achchi baat hai ki I am not looking bad in

there. Sundar bhi lag rahi hoon. Waise bhi, mujhe bhootni ka role nahi karna tha (laughs). In fact I remember that when we were shooting the film, Tinu used to tell me that I am required to either

get frightened all the time or cry throughout. Still, he used to tell me that 'aur darr, aur darr' and I was like 'isse zyaada nahi darr sakti'!

Guess audience are in for some scares though.

It is very spooky. In fact one of my friends asked me that aise mahual mein kaise shooting kar li. I told her that scary film ki shooting mein sabse zyaada comedy hoti hai. On the sets there is so

much laughter and all. I remember that once we were shooting at midnight for a graveyard shift in London. I was getting so excited because I had always wanted to experience something like this. We

had three days of shoot and for the first couple of days it rained. Tinu was in so much of pressure and I kept teasing him that it is also time for a real spirit to emerge in the graveyard.

(Smiles) Well, he just asked me to shut up!

How about Sharman Joshi? How did the camaraderie go with him?

As a co-actor, Sharman is just fabulous. See, I have always been this very confident girl but I feel I still have a lot to learn from him. Working with him is a delight. The first day in London,

both of us and Tinu were gearing up for the shot. I was being over confident that I would be able to do things in a jiffy. I told Tinu that I had my dialogues in place. So the camera began to roll,

I was standing in front of Sharman and he started delivering his dialogues with that perfect voice modulation and diction. It was all so amazing that once he started, I forgot everything. I told

him that tumne mujhe meri aukaat yaad dila di (laughs)!