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More than a survivor

SURESH KOHLI engages actress Manisha Koirala in a chat during her recent trip to Pakistan for the premiere of `Taj Mahal'

STILL NOT ON A WANE Manisha Koirala

One hadn't met her in a long time. And although Akbar Khan had told us that she would be a star-attraction at the Taj Mahal premieres in Pakistan, we did not really believe it would actually happen. She had failed to make it to most events related to the film in the past six months. And her notoriety for ditching, especially friends and producers, had been as towering as her high-rise apartment in suburban Mumbai.

So one was happy to see a slim, smiling, shining Manisha Koirala go up the stage at Lahore 's Plaza theatre - to an applause she had perhaps long forgotten. And then, we were in the bus together first, and then at adjoining tables at Lahore's Royal Palm Golf and Country Club for the memorable sit-in dinner.

But it wasn't until we were first on the flight to Karachi, and then at ourtemporaryabode, Pearl Continental hotel, that one could engage a rejuvenated Manisha Koirala for a chat. Since there is always a distance between intention and the act, one asked her about her plans to turn a director, and whether she had at all gone to America for a course in filmmaking. She said: "I did finish an intensive summer course in New York, even made a decent diploma film, became a member of an independent filmmaker's society, a documentary filmmakers' society actually, and thought I will go back and improve upon my effort. But it was not to be. I am serious about turning to direction but feel, as I want to make films for the world market, I need a little more understanding of the craft. Also, I like complicated, a little confusing scripts myself, so I definitely need to study the whole thing a little more."

Variety, the spice of cinema

The next obvious question, breaking a piece of bread at the roof-top Chandni restaurant in the hotel, was whether she had turned to low-budget films consciously, or in desperation because she wasn't getting any substantial movies in the mainstream cinema. The unpredictable Miss Koirala, whose escapades to Kathmandu and pro-active role in the politics of the Himalayan kingdom have often come in for sharp criticism, and at the expense of delayed shooting schedules, sheepishly said she had signed Ram Gopal Varma's Darwaza Bandh Rakho, Rituparna Ghosh's Khela, and the South Indian remake, Tulsi, and now Anwar Jamal's Survivor because she wanted to do different sort of films, and enjoyed every bit of the working days for these movies. "I needed a break from mainstream films as then only I will be able to value my work. I am really concerned how people will remember my work as my work is people related," she said.

About `Market'

Despite some brilliant work in the past, the temperamental star with one of the most exquisite smiles has for sometime been in news for all the wrong reasons - for choosing bad films, drinking bouts and changing lovers with a reckless disdain, resulting in producers shying away from casting her. Yet she defends working with a director like Jai Prakash who has made classics of the blasé kind, Market and Chahat - better known for skin shows and distasteful love-making scenes. "Jai is a well-meaning director. He always comes up with good ideas," is what she had to say.

Reminded about bad press reports, she retorts: "Those days are gone when I did something and used to get written about. Now it is just fiction, nothing but an attempt to sensationalise, and let us not forget that because of my liberalness I am the easy target for all this. If you see, in the recent past, the media has made me from a murderer to a bilious to a racist, and I wonder what next? Should I be amused, laugh, cry... what? Thanks to my inner strength, I can overpower all this. I totally believe `what does not break you only makes you stronger'."

And since she is playing a journalist in Anwar Jamal's Survivor, expected to set rolling in July this year, and considering she has confronted all sorts of media persons during her 15-year stint as a Bollywood actress, one wondered if she would have any role model of a journo?

"The character I am playing is today's (mostly Bombay's) product of media war where ethics take a back seat and sensationalism is of much more importance. It's nobody's fault. If one can understand the dark side of human nature, it is all a process. Also, my character, like all the characters in the movie, is longing for love. So there are different levels. And no, I still have not found an idealistic person in this field."

Not many 30-plus actresses in India have succeeded in making a place for themselves on the strength of their talent alone. But will luck help Manisha scale some dizzy heights even now?

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