Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Her BITE into stardom
|
Pop album or film, Rashmi Nigam is the new `mast' girl
|
Rashmi Nigam: Time to "Sharara"
IT WAS certainly love at first bite.
Yes, she stole my heart (and of many others like Pritish Nandy) the minute she made that `biting' gesture in that music video of the `Ja Re Ja Oh Harjai' remix.
Pritish Nandy said, "If a girl can wear a sari like that, dance like that and bite like that!" before running out of words to describe his discovery.
He signed her on for "Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao," a movie whose otherwise painfully long length I did not mind at all, because of the presence of this absolutely gorgeous young woman. Yes, Kajol's sister Tanishaa also happens to star in the movie, but this one is Rashmi Nigam's film. Her portfolio.
Great in parts
If Kabir Sadanand, the director, got anything right in the movie, it was casting Rashmi as Sonia. Don't get me wrong, the movie isn't entirely bad. It's great in parts, it has some wonderful moments (yes, excluding the parts where Rashmi lights up the screen with her presence), it has about 15 genuinely funny jokes, a brilliantly funny Yash Tonk as Goldie and a charming, talented, grey-eyed bloke in Akshay Kapoor to keep the women in the audience happy. With a little editing ... like, you know, with an hour less (the movie is over two and half hours long), it would be a decent movie. In its current form however, `Popcorn' is just any other half-fresh yet not-that-corny film you can expect out of a promising debutant director, a flick that falls short of a `Mast' watch tag.
Before we start the interview, Rashmi pops the question that any journalist would want to avoid after watching a movie like "Popcorn": So, how did you like the movie?
"Well, I think you are one of the reasons why anyone should watch this film," I tell her quickly before giving her my opinion on the length.
How did it all begin?
(Seriously, how many questions can you ask a starlet who is one film old?)
Rashmi was at a restaurant with her friends when a gentleman from Sony walked up to her and asked her if she would be interested in auditioning for the role. Hmmm, he must have noticed her biting. "I almost forgot about it," Rashmi recalls. A week later, she landed up at the audition, danced for a Beyonce number, and she was in.
Trained in classical dances
"I was trained in Manipuri and Kuchipudi," the starlet explains, before going into her flashback.
Approximately 18 years, 95 days, 13 minutes and 5 seconds before (that's how the movie's narrator takes the audience back and forth in time), Rashmi Nigam was born in Goa.
Rashmi was then raised in Delhi, studied abroad for a bit and approximately one year, 79 days, 58 minutes and 13 seconds ago, worked as a graduate trainee in the petroleum division of a multi-national company. Her photographer friend persuaded her to get her portfolio done.
Her calling
Her school experience in dance theatre gave her enough confidence to do ads, then the `Ja Re Ja' music video happened. Before she knew it, Daler Mehndi signed her on for his latest video `Sha Ra Ra Ra.'
And now, one-film-old Rashmi is already familiar with the standard clichés that well-established stars belt out confidently. "I'm here for good," "I've found my calling," "I want to do different roles. I don't want to be slotted." "I'm doing a totally different role in my next film." Of course. Only that the script isn't ready.
Yes, Rashmi will start shooting for another film with her producer Pritish Nandy Communications, by the end of the year.
Meanwhile?
"I'm taking a nice Popcorn break," she smiles. "In this industry, there are either lulls or so much happening that you can't even breathe ... so much excitement. So, now I get back to spend time with my friends. I'm starting to watch movies in DVDs to update myself."
About 10 minutes, 5 seconds and .36 nanoseconds after she said that, I shook hands with my latest crush.
SUDHISH KAMATH
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
|
