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`Today different is very in'
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Actors Neha Dhupia and Sushma Reddy play cool and funny and have a serious take on comic capers, their darling director, and being the aaj ki heroine
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Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.
HOW COOL ARE WE Neha and Sushma may ooze attitude, but they admit that the audience has the ultimate say in their success
Two is too much. And when it comes to actresses sharing the screen, is two a crowd? Will they turn fire-spewing dragons? Nah, you would think, if you saw Sushma Reddy and Neha Dhupia, who were in Bangalore, cosy up for the promotion of their latest film Chup Chup Ke at Inox theatres. The ladies, who believe anything "different" sells in today's world, did their promos differently — they sold tickets at the counters for the premier!
The ever-smiling and childlike Sushma, a former Channel (V) VJ, started her filmi career with Chocolate. The face of several ads like Tanishq, Lakmι, Pond's Lavender, she's featured in Sonu Nigam's video of Deewana.
Neha Dhupia won the Miss India title (2002) and went on to model for Reebok, AirTel, National, Mitsubishi Lancer and so on. But she was crowned a sex symbol when she played the role of a hooker in Julie. Neha has acted in a string of films like Sheesha, Rakt, Qayamat, Siskiyan, Kya Kool Hai Hum, but nothing brought her the obvious attention that Julie did. The actresses are bowled over by laugh-riot creator Priyan Sir (director Priyadarshan of Hera Pheri fame) and all conversation goes back to him and their latest film Chup Chup Ke, finds BHUMIKA K. Excerpts:
On comedy being serious business:
Neha: I don't think its funny doing a comedy film
Sushma: It's one of the hardest things to do.
Neha: You should get your timing right. But it's also easy, because you know it when you get it right. Because you have 70 people on the set judging you anyway.
Sushma: When a scene's going right, you can actually feel it.
Neha: When you see everyone cracking up or chuckling after a shot, you know you've got it right. And if you can make these technicians — seriously involved in their work — to laugh, then you've grabbed their attention. So your test is done there. But the question is will you pass or not when it comes to the big screen. (Both burst out laughing) Somewhere down the line, when people are making films, you lose perspective. You think it's your film and it's doing well and people are watching out for it. But finally you've got to wait, ya. You can't make judgments or form opinions till the audience comes to the cinema. That's what matters most.
Sushma: And it's interesting because with this film, everyone's already assumed it's an out and out comedy. But Chup Chup Ke is actually a family drama, embroiled in a comic situation. There are many misunderstandings and it's a love-meets-confusion-meets-love story, as the tagline says.
Neha: Considering Kareena (Kapoor) and Sushma are there for the love, I'm just there for the confusion!! (More laughing) You're dealing with a director who is sensitive and sensible and this is one of his few films where it's all coming together to be a total family entertainer, not just a comic caper.
Actresses in comedies:
Sushma: Priyan Sir knows how to present his women. He doesn't like anything over the top. No overacting. Just fresh and simple. Women are pivotal to this film.
Neha: Yeah, and often the audience is mistaken that comedy is about the person who's cracking the joke. It's also about whom the joke is on, you know. So it's about whether the women are there in the film because the joke is on them... It just makes you realise what serious business comedy is.
Sushma: The hardest thing to make people laugh.
Neha: Trying to make people laugh is not about the level you need to achieve as an actor. Today "stress" being the new word everybody's caught on, people come to the movies for entertainment. To make them laugh, get them involved — it's a job you have to live up to. And when you don't, people just turn around and say, `But you were not that funny'. Funny again is relative.
Sushma: This is only my second film and I've realised that comedy is so driven by your chemistry with your co-star — it can lift a scene or kill it. It's either there or not there. The camera doesn't lie. You can fool anyone and anything but the camera is such an intelligent creature by itself. It picks on everything...
Neha: Yeah, it picks the smallest thing and makes it look like the largest thing on screen. This small little dot on your face can be like a big dot on 70 mm.
Lost in a large star cast?
Sushma: Everything depends on who is making the film. It's hard enough to manage two actors on a set. But Priyan Sir always takes on entire ensembles at one stretch. His set-ups are perfect and there is discipline. All his characters are well etched and everyone's there for a reason. You know where you stand. It's not the same with all other ensemble filmmakers.
Neha: I would agree. An ensemble cast has to complement each other. They all can't be similar. And if the package works, everyone gains.
Sushma: In a 14-strong cast, when the script is king, the characters propel it.
Neha: It's about doing different things. What's the fun of being an actor if I want to be paired with the same hero every time, and doing the same thing every day? I want to wake up and be a dentist on Monday, a housewife on Tuesday, an airhostess on Wednesday — there's no other profession that allows you to different things every day. And why not take advantage of that?
Is it a good time to be in Bollywood?
Sushma: Oh yes!
Neha: Great time. If it wasn't for new-age cinema and the fact that people doing both big budget and small budget, there wouldn't be place for people like us in the industry. Everyone's thinking of the day after tomorrow, not even tomorrow. We don't epitomise the regular Hindi film heroine.
Sushma: Absolutely (Shaking her head in total agreement).
Neha: I mean look at us!! We are so much cooler, aren't we? (Tosses her head back in self-deprecatingly and both crack up)
Sushma: I don't think I would have taken this plunge into cinema. Now there's so much more scope. Rang De Basanti is the best example. I don't think even three years ago the film would have done that well. Today "different" is in.
Neha: There was a time when people said you had to have big heroes and needed big money. People used to take pride in spending Rs. 50 crores on a film. Today it's about what you can produce in that much budget and showing your abilities in that much less. There's place today for everybody — someone like Sushma, Kareena, and me. (Makes a deadpan face and announces)
But this is not a call for other young beautiful talented women. Please don't come and join the industry or we won't have any work left. (Both laugh)
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