Mumbai, April 01: Bipasha Basu gets to do 9 different looks in her new film Pankh. She clarifies, “It’s not nine roles as has been wrongly reported. It’s just nine looks.
I play a character who doesn’t really exist. I’m the young hero Maradona Rebello’s fantasy figure. Every look is a reflection on his mood. When he’s mellow I come out looking like an angel. He sees me the way he wants to see me. I loved the script and the director Sudipto Chattopadhyaya’s passion.”
The director wanted to name the character Bipasha Basu.
Says the straight-laced actress, “Yes, he was very keen that I be called Bipasha in Pankh. But I’m not at all comfortable with my name being used for any character. I’d rather stick to the character’s name Nandini.”
Belying the belief that she is not promoting the film, Bipasha enthuses, “Pankh is very special, and not just because it’s my first so-called art film. But the minute I heard the subject I was bowled over. It deals with a very serious problem within the film industry. Let’s not trivialize it by people speculating whether the character I play is based on me. That’s exactly what would have happened if my name was Bipasha in Pankh.”
In Priyadarshan’s Aakrosh, Bipasha plays a refined school teacher, so she doesn’t have to speak a dialectic Bihari.
Says Bipasha, “It’s very small township. I’m dressed in simple saris for the role. It’s a no-makeup look. But no makeup also means some makeup that the character uses when she goes out, etc. We’re at this heritage bungalow called Bangla, very nice but very basic. It’s a very hot place with big mosquitoes.”
Bipasha is completely new to Priyadarshan’s cinema. “So is Ajay. But Akshaye is not. He has worked repeatedly with Priyan. He’s his favourite.”
——–Agencies