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Esha Deol plays the real-life Sushmita Sen in her next film "Ankahee" releasing this May. She speaks to RANA SIDDIQUI about the experience

SAYING IT NOW Esha Deol says her role as Kavya in "Ankahee" is a blend of glamour and simplicity PHOTO: REUTERS

Esha Deol might not be saying it through words, but from the day her next film, Ankahee releases in the middle of this May, she would be subject to quite some public scrutiny. For reasons more than one. The most important being her portrayal of Sushmita Sen as Miss World in the film and, the second, a good amalgam of glamour and emotions in it that would provide this bubby beauty a chance to prove her worth as an able actress.

The film, as Vikram Bhatt, the producer says, is about his relationship with Sushmita Sen after she became Miss World and was making her foray into filmdom. He has chosen Aftab Shivdasani to play his role. He is named Shekhar in the film.

For Esha, who is still busy shooting, as director Aditya Chopra is in the process of wrapping up the film, it is one more way of exploring her talent. She has this to say about the role: "I play a girl called KavyaShe is a Miss World. She enters Bollywood to make a career. She is apparently a very glamorous woman, but from inside, she is very disturbed. She has a lot of personal problems, though as Miss World, she has to put a mask over that gloomy side of hers. The film shows how in the middle of her problems, she comes across a man who is ordinary in appearance but is very strong from inside. She gets involved with him, gets obsessed about him, without caring if this man is married, has children and so on. She also proves to be a great emotional support for him."

On whether it was easy or difficult for Esha to play the role of a person who is a fellow actress, and how it feels portraying the personal life of someone you come across occasionally in the film world itself, Esha keeps diplomatically silent. "For me, it is just another role. I didn't ask any personal question to Vikram Bhatt about that. I did what Aditya Chopra asked me to do. The credit for my glamorous look of a Miss World, the deglamourised look during emotional scenes goes to Aditya. Yes, the fact remains that it was a little difficult for me to enact the glamorous partas I am not always comfortable that way," states Esha, saying she worked a lot on her body to look the part. "I normally don't starve to stay fit and have a model-like figure but only do exercises. But for the film, I had to do so," she laughs.

Wishing to dance

This trained Odissi dancer might be choosing different roles "to experiment" with her range, but she laments that she has not yet got a script that would bring out her talents as an Odissi dancer. "What I am doing in most films is latkas and jhatkas, which is sometimes fun,but is not creatively satisfying. I wish I get a film that explores me as a dancer too," she sighs.

When Esha made her entry into filmdom through Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche, opposite Sanjay Kapoor, people had a lot of expectations from her, being the progeny of talented parents, Dharmendra and Hema Malini. But inside the film industry, she wasn't as much welcomed. She admits, "Being a star progeny doesn't pay. In fact, it proves counterproductive. The moment industry people get to know that you are a star-child, their attitude turns negative. The journey stops being smooth. I can't fathom the reason, but being quite straightforward, I don't feign ignorance about their attitude. I wear that on my face. I am a bad person that way, you know," she laughs, signing off the conversation, getting ready for her next shot.

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