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The rebel!

Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Bold and beautiful Gul Panang

Gul Panag is a non-conformist and loves to live by the tag. As one enters her room, she is busy peeling boiled eggs. “It is therapeutic! Try it.”

One opted for peeling the life of a beautiful girl who prefers people notice her dialectic mind first. Upbeat about her latest film “Straight”, where she is playing the love interest of a homophobic, Gul says, “It is about a man who is confused about his sexual orientation. I know it is a Vinay Pathak film but I did it for I trust director Parvati Balagopalan. I have already done a film ‘Phir Zindagi’ with her. I play a girl-next-door.I have tried to keep her real.”

Gul says: “I was a national level debater in school and college and was national champion for two consecutive years. I come from a family of intellectuals. Every day at the dining table there was a debate.”

Then why did she opt for something like Miss India contest? “I was a super active kid who used to excel in all the spheres. In those days, the contest was promoted as ‘looking for a woman of substance’. I asked my father and he said why not?”

At another level, Gul wanted the crown because of the Miss India joke going in her family. “Once I told my family that I want to become Miss India. After that everything that the rebel in me wanted, they would say I would get only after becoming Miss India.”

But she didn’t jump the Bollywood bandwagon immediately. “I got offers but those were times when one man armies were holding sway, where actresses were only sisters and mothers and the rest of the space was occupied by Tabu and Nandita Das. I watched ‘Maachis’ during graduation and felt I might do a better job than Tabu. See the cheek!” And she waited till “Dhoop” brightened her prospects and eventually found “Dor.”

The non conformist in her again came to the fore as she did a Maxim photo shoot in bare essentials.

“I didn’t do something unnatural. I am not one of those who go to a beach in salwar suit. Also, this industry needs to be jolted to make it realise what you are capable of.

People were in awe when they saw me as Zeenat in Dor but felt this is the way I am in real life. After the shoot, I got calls from people praising my figure. They didn’t know that I hadn’t acquired it overnight. Imagine I was first offered Amrita Arora’s role in ‘Hello’. When I insisted I find myself closer to Priyanka, Atul Agnihotri relented.

I know it is not a great thing to play characters that are closer to the real you but then it is also not satisfying to keep playing only one kind of roles.” This explains why she has only about half a dozen films in her repertoire. “Acting is a vocation for me but I want to go back to life after every film. Only then I will be able to bring something to the characters I play.” She doesn’t want to rely on a director to mould her.

“Some of our biggest filmmakers like it this way but now things are changing.”

She must be a nagging actress? “No, but I do ask uncomfortable questions. I remember asking Navdeep, what is the educational qualification of the wife in ‘Manorma Six Feet Under’.

Navdeep had done his research quite well but had no answer. He came back in a day and said: ‘She must have dropped out after second year of bachelor in arts’. It helps.”

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