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Julie arrives Chup Chup Ke!

Neha Dhupia shares her experience of working in "Chup Chup Ke" with RANA SIDDIQUI

A MEATY ROLE? Neha Dhupia shows her simpler side in "Chup Chup Ke" Photo: R.V. Moorthy

If a swimsuit shot Neha Dhupia to fame with in her debut film Qayamat, in which she plays the love interest of Ajay Devgan, role of a sex worker marrying a businessperson (played by Priyanshu Chatterjee) in Julie stamped on her the label of a dare-bare baby. With Siskiyaan she managed to attract a few pair of eyes who go for sensible actors. With a slapstick comedy Kya Kool Hai Hum her debut in comedy film was marked too. This time she turns an interpreter in Priyadarshan's Chup Chup Ke, ready to release this Friday.

Neha plays Meenakshi in the film. She says about the role, "Actually I play the cupid or the confusion in the film.

The tag line for the film is `love meets confusion meets love'. That way, if Kareena and Shahid Kapoor are the love, then technically I should be the confusion," she laughs.

The film deals with disability in undertones. For which Kareena Kapoor had to learn the sign language. But not Neha. "Because I play her cousin, her best friend as also her interpreter. Let me please clear that it is not a film on disability in the real sense. We are not showing them as caricatures. They are people who are part of the laughter and not the people we are laughing at. It has been handled very sensitively and in Priyan's sir style of comedy."

Talking about Kareena, Neha doesn't forget to compliment her, "I don't think any one watching the film will not fall in love with Kareena's character. I was really impressed by Kareena's professionalism. I don't know why it is said that two female actors can't get along well? Kareena and I got along so very well. She came across as a wonderful human being. There has been no conflict on our respective scenes in the film."

Tough taskmaster

With a "hard task master" like "Priyan sir" for Neha, the shooting for the film was not a cakewalk. She recalls, "When you are working with Priyan all scenes seem difficult. I used to be very nervous with Priyan Sir around as he is a perfectionist. Moreover, it is a comedy. Making people laugh is not an easy business especially with Priyan sir who does not like to have many re-takes. He prefers to have only one take."

Be it Siskiyaan and JulieNeha might have proved her worth as an actress too, yet she is largely recognised as a woman easy with `bare-it-all' kind of roles. She doesn't have regrets but she is certainly trying to do some meaty roles now.

She asserts, "I have no regrets for doing any of my film till date. It was a part of my growing up phase. I think everyone goes through this phase. The best part of being an actor is that you get to play a dentist one day, a wife another day, a rich man's daughter one day and a beggar the next day. I went through this supposedly sexy phase too. But now I am doing roles with more meat. Chup Chup Ke is one of them. Let's hope after this film I get some better roles and challenging characters to play. I feel as long as you have got a decent role in the film, its length doesn't matter. I would rather choose a strong role rather than a lengthy role."

Now Neha has two films, 1:40 Ki Last Local "It is about these two strangers Abhay Deol and me and what happens when two strangers meet" and Delhi Heights.

"And some more which still haven't taken off."

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