Chitrangda dances to Sridevi’s Chaalbaaz track

By Subhash K. Jha -

January 21, 2013 - 10:28 AM IST

Chitrangda dances to Sridevi’s Chaalbaaz track

Like all of us, Chitrangda Singh is a Sridevi fan. No wonder Chitrangda was over the moon when last week she got to perform one of Sridevi's most beloved dance numbers 'Na Jaane Kahan See Aayi Hai' from the film Chaalbaaz with John Abraham in their film together I Me Aur Main. Chitrangda, basking in the rave reviews she has received for her performance in Inkaar, had to share the number with Prachi Desai. Not just that the entire song has been turned down from a female-gender perspective to a male one, to suit the leading man's stature.

An indication of the male-domination that controls the film industry? Chitrangda laughs her throaty laughter and says, "I told John the revised avatar of the Sridevi song goes well with his character in I Me Aur Main. But seriously, all three of us John, Prachi and I had fun dancing to the number."

On Friday evening after the release of her film Inkaar, Chitrangda shot the song and then rushed to the I Me Aur Main director Kapil Sharma's home for his birthday party.

Yes, the stunning looker is now learning the ropes of Bollywood protocol, though she is still a far distance from mastering it. "I don't go out much after shooting. I don't socialize. I am terrible at social networking. Once I finish shooting I like to get back home and watch films. This friend of mine has given me some rare films that are not available on any format. I'm watching them one by one every night."

The smouldering seductress from Inkaar whose family is in Delhi, admits it gets lonely in Mumbai. "I keep rushing back to Delhi to be with my family whenever I can. When you don't see me on the sets you will see me on the airport catching a flight out to Delhi. I do have cousins in Mumbai. But ever since I moved into my new place I get to see them only on weekends."

Inkaar has garnered some really favourable reviews for Chitrangda. And she is relieved. "We all worked really hard on the film. Playing Maya, the ambitious go-getting corporate woman in Inkaar wasn't easy. Sudhir (director Mishra) wouldn't let me take the easy way out. I'd often respond to scenes in a normal way. He would invariably make me do them in a way different from the expected. Take that scene where I am all worked up and I accidently spill water on my boyfriend. Instead of feeling sorry I laugh in that scene. It's that sense of the unpredictable that carried the shooting forward."

Sudhir Mishra apparently has changed the scenes minutes before shooting. "My God, and how!" expostulates Chitrangda. "Sometimes I'd go into my van and when I'd come out the scene would be changed. I was like, 'When did that happen?' But I'd quickly grasp what Sudhir wanted me to do."

She admits she owes a lot of her career to Sudhir. "I've learnt so much about the craft from him. When I go on the sets of another director I try to remember what I've learnt on Sudhir's sets. I don't think any other director could give me the kind of characters I've played in his cinema. Now I've got a dream role in Sudhir's Mehrunissa. I can't wait to begin work on it."

Sudhir is unhappy with her choice of roles. And he definitely abhorred her item song in Shirish Kunder's Joker.

Laughs Chitrangda, "Yeah, he actually says it publicly. But I enjoy doing the commercial cinema. I had a great time doing Desi Boyz with Akshay Kumar. And I was surprised when it didn't become a big success. As for the item song, it was fun to do. I don't regret doing it. I don't regret anything. Not even the fact that I couldn't do Krissh 3. At that point of time I was busy with Inkaar and I Me Aur Main. I think it's more important to focus on what one is doing than think about what one is not."

Tell her she pretty much occupies a unique space in Bollywood today, and the actress laughs, "I don't know why. But yes, whatever roles I've done so far are pretty much out-of-the-box. And yet I seem to be liked by younger audiences. I've 16 and 20-year olds complimenting me. That's good place to be in, I think."