Post by gigi on Oct 19, 2008 20:24:33 GMT -5
Ghulam is the only hit today and Rani Mukherjee is getting letters in blood from guys swearing to be her Ghulam for life .Any 20 yr. olds head would turn with such adulation. Rani Mukherjee reminds one of Divya Bharati. The only difference, Rani knows how to handle her problems whereas Divya did not! But then Rani comes from a film family. Her father Ram Mukherjee was the founder director of Filmalaya Studios and directed many films like Leader etc.
"Kajol and I are the Bengali tigresses today. And we are the ferocious ones I guess! We will not let anyone take us for granted"
Crossing her legs and squatting on the floor, she confessed:
"I had this dream of becoming somebody very rich and famous. I did not want an ordinary life. But believe me I never thought I'd become an actress. If someone suggested it I'd tell him or her they were mad. From which angle did I look like an actress? My mom, I think always wanted me to join films as she too comes from a film background. Her sister is a top actress in Bengal and she herself was a singer and did many shows with Kishore Kumar."
Probably her mother realised her own dream through Rani.
"Maybe...and somehow, when I finished my 12th standard I was also at the crossroads. All my friends had chosen a career but none of the careers they had chosen interested me, yet I wanted a career too. That's when Salim Uncle offer me Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and I accepted it"
Uncle? Wasnt there a rumour linking her to him?
" People don't know that my dad and Salim Akhtar, have been friends for years. Dad has directed three films with him. I have known Salim, since I was three years old. Doesn't that make him my uncle and his wife my aunt? I'm very close to them. If, say, Kajol's dad Shomu Kaka was doing a film with me, wouldn't I be closer to him than other filmmakers? Just because Salim Uncle is not blood related and he gave me my first break, they are linking me with him. For me, it's sickening even to think of such a thing."
One could see anger in her eyes and the hurt on her face.
"Reading all this in print does not upset me as much as people talking about it. I don't blame the Press; after all, someone has also fed them this information. From whatever, little experience I have, I've realised it's always the people around the star like either the close relations or friends who spread such rumours. These people are either frustrated or very jealous of your success. One cannot stop those gossipmongers who carry such news to the press. I'd appreciate it if journalists checked with me before printing things."
There was a lot more to check with her but that would be later. It was her dream of becoming another Kajol that interested me first. It must have been her cousin's success that gave her the confidence to step into the commercial set up of films.
"First of all Kajol is only my second cousin. One relationship is being publicised because after her, I've come from the Mukherjee family. We are the same blood stream and coloured eyes...that's where the similarity ends. Kajol came into films seven years ago. If it was her success that prompted me to become an actress, I'd have done so a long time ago. Before Kajol my masi had been in films for the last 25 years and saw her in and out of the studios ever since I can remember. But all this cannot guarantee you success or confidence or help you take decisions for life. It's basically your hard work and your luck. Salem uncle also used to tell me when I was a child also that I'd be the future heroine and I'd think he was joking. When he actually offered me that film, I decided to give it a try. That initial process of learning in your first film helps you decide whether you could make a career of it. I decided I could and that's how I'm here.
Is she close to Kajol?
" In a way, yes. We share a warm relationship and now we are doing, a film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, opposite Shah Rukh Khan. We will be meeting more often and whenever we meet, we freak out. Kajol is a very warm person. She has absolutely no airs and feels very protective towards me. She knows I mean well, I want to work hard and make it here. We're both not into the Mukherjee clan too much. I think she also keeps her distance."
What about their other cousin, Sharbani Mukherjee?
"I'm not close to Sharbani at all. She is older to Kajol as well. Sharbani is six years older to Kajol as well as me, she belongs to the older bracket and I don't know her at all."
People who know Kajol and Rani remark that they are quite similar. In fact, Rani is quite arrogant when it comes to dealing with people.
"Kajol and I are the Bengal tigresses today and we are ferocious ones I guess! We will not let anyone take us for granted. Speaking for myself, I'd say people have formed their own opinions even without meeting me. I don't think it's fair to label me arrogant or clever without knowing me. If a journalist hears this from some unit hand on the sets and calls me arrogant over some small incident, it's not fair. If someone misbehaved with me, I'd have to deal with it accordingly. But its not as if I walk around with my head in the air. I have my feet very firmly planted in the ground."
"Kajol and I are both very frank and basically good people but she is more street smart than I am. That's probably because she has been around longer. I'm quite easy going and react only when something upsets me. Mom thinks I'm very chalk and dad worries and thinks I'm quite cool. If I have a problem with someone, I deal with him or her very directly and don't go around sulking. Maybe, its the fire in my eyes that makes people think I'm clever little thing but I hate hypocrisy. When I talk, it comes straight from the heart. I don't manipulate my quotes for make effect."
Ghulam was actually Pooja Bhatt's film but earlier Aamir Khan had suggested Rani Mukherjee. Today she thinks she was plain lucky?
" Of course I'm happy! Any girl would need that kind of a break. All I know is, Mukherjee called me and offered me this film and I did it! It's wrong to call it a reject. Today, who remembers that Ghulam was supposed to be done by Pooja? It's the end result that matters. Now I'm doing Hadh Kar Di Aapne that Mahima was supposed to do but she had date problems. I have no ego hassles. What matters to me is that I'm doing a film of my choice."
Ghulam has triggered off rumours that there was strong chemistry between Rani and Aamir. Now, before we go on to whether this is true or not, I'd say that the Khan has a tremendous influence on Rani. Now that I was meeting her post-Ghulam, I could see it. Rani Mukherjee today talks, walks, laughs, and gesticulates like Aamir. Throughout the interview as I watched her, I could see a replica of Aamir and I told her this.
She laughed, "Yes, lot of people tell me this. My friends say Aamir ka bhoot chad gaya hai mujhpe, but then I've been working with him for the past one year. There has to be some influence, na? We shared a very close relationship..."
Are you suggesting that....?
" No, I simply don't know how to handle this or answer this question. I've just entered the film industry, he's my first important hero and I'm at an age when I would get easily influenced by someone I'm looking up to. I was never in awe of Aamir Khan. I felt we were normal working people who got along very well. I cannot even have a crush on Aamir because he's a married man with two kids. He's a senior actor, one of the best in the country. I respect him and look up to him. If we didn't get along people would have said we were having problems, like they did with Twinkle and Bobby, just because they were not linked. Today, if a pair gets along well, they say they are involved. Can't an actress have a nice, warm relationship with anybody? If she keeps her distance, she is considered arrogant. Does she have to be branded in extremes? She's never allowed to think she's a normal girl. There has to be a man in her life. Anyway, this is just the beginning and it's part and parcel of this profession and I have to live with it. As long as I'm clean and my conscience is clear it's okay. Aamir has been very sporting and protective about me. If people read much more into this friendship, I can't slap them and tell them to shut up."
It's normal for a 20-year-old to have a crush on her first hero. We weren't suggesting a clandestine affair but she did seem infatuated. Maybe he wasn't married...
"Married men are an absolute no for me." After a long, thoughtful pause. "Look let me talk sensibly and not make such sweeping statements. I'm giving you this interview in July'98 right? Who knows the future? This is my mental state now. Next year, I may change my mind, my life may be different. This is the time for me to grow and mature, so a change is bound to come."
If she were to fall in love would she be discreet like the 100 odd actresses or would she be more open like Manisha, Pooja or Kajol?
" If I have a boyfriend, I'd rather keep it to myself. I come from a conservative family and my parents would never accept my relationship with a man, unless it is of a serious kind. I do care about how they react. For me, my family is only my parents and brother Raja. Beyond that, I don't have anybody. So it's important for me not to hurt them or do anything without their approval."
At this point her mother Krishna says," I think love is such a beautiful feeling. If it's true love, you don't go around giving interviews or do photosessions together for publicity. Yeh to dil me rakhne wali bat hai."
What about Rani's friends, how do they react to her closeness to Aamir?
"Oh, they all had crushes on Aamir and even came to meet him. To them, he's a hero; to me he's a co-star. I have three friends who care for me and feel for me-Priya, Amisha and Shuba. We four speak to each other about five times a day. That's how close we are. They are very proud of me and they love to show off that they are my friends and that Im working with Aamir, Shah Rukh, Govinda and Ajay."
She's doing a film with Kajol, isn't she afraid of being overshadowed by the natural actress?
"People say I'm also a natural actress but I just do what the director tells me to do. I don't know who has got a better job. All I know is I'm doing a good film and if someone's contribution is going to help the film I will look up to that person, whether it's Kajol, Shah Rukh or me. Bus project ka faida hona chahiye. I cannot measure my success with Kajol's or any other actresses"
Is she now getting Kajol's films since Kajol is marrying Ajay in December?
"Kajol and I don't discuss our personal lives. And no, not a single film of Kajol has come to me. In fact, maybe doing a film with Ajay Devgun but I don't know him at all, I've never met him."
How will she feel romancing her brother in law?
"For me a co-star is a co-star period"
Does being from a film background help?
"Well, no one acts fresh with you. They have that initial respect that new comers don't get. No one leeches at you. But no one gives you work just because you belong to a film family. Uncle, aunt and cousins can't get you work, you have to prove yourself. My work will speak for me and not these baseless rumours!"
As I put my Dictaphone aside, I wondered how long it would take for this innocence, childishness and enthusiasm to go. Will this little girl survive the tough world out there in those dusty studios or will she give in?
"Tough times don't last tough people do", she grinned.
There was a firmness in her tone and that I hope, does last!
"Kajol and I are the Bengali tigresses today. And we are the ferocious ones I guess! We will not let anyone take us for granted"
Crossing her legs and squatting on the floor, she confessed:
"I had this dream of becoming somebody very rich and famous. I did not want an ordinary life. But believe me I never thought I'd become an actress. If someone suggested it I'd tell him or her they were mad. From which angle did I look like an actress? My mom, I think always wanted me to join films as she too comes from a film background. Her sister is a top actress in Bengal and she herself was a singer and did many shows with Kishore Kumar."
Probably her mother realised her own dream through Rani.
"Maybe...and somehow, when I finished my 12th standard I was also at the crossroads. All my friends had chosen a career but none of the careers they had chosen interested me, yet I wanted a career too. That's when Salim Uncle offer me Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and I accepted it"
Uncle? Wasnt there a rumour linking her to him?
" People don't know that my dad and Salim Akhtar, have been friends for years. Dad has directed three films with him. I have known Salim, since I was three years old. Doesn't that make him my uncle and his wife my aunt? I'm very close to them. If, say, Kajol's dad Shomu Kaka was doing a film with me, wouldn't I be closer to him than other filmmakers? Just because Salim Uncle is not blood related and he gave me my first break, they are linking me with him. For me, it's sickening even to think of such a thing."
One could see anger in her eyes and the hurt on her face.
"Reading all this in print does not upset me as much as people talking about it. I don't blame the Press; after all, someone has also fed them this information. From whatever, little experience I have, I've realised it's always the people around the star like either the close relations or friends who spread such rumours. These people are either frustrated or very jealous of your success. One cannot stop those gossipmongers who carry such news to the press. I'd appreciate it if journalists checked with me before printing things."
There was a lot more to check with her but that would be later. It was her dream of becoming another Kajol that interested me first. It must have been her cousin's success that gave her the confidence to step into the commercial set up of films.
"First of all Kajol is only my second cousin. One relationship is being publicised because after her, I've come from the Mukherjee family. We are the same blood stream and coloured eyes...that's where the similarity ends. Kajol came into films seven years ago. If it was her success that prompted me to become an actress, I'd have done so a long time ago. Before Kajol my masi had been in films for the last 25 years and saw her in and out of the studios ever since I can remember. But all this cannot guarantee you success or confidence or help you take decisions for life. It's basically your hard work and your luck. Salem uncle also used to tell me when I was a child also that I'd be the future heroine and I'd think he was joking. When he actually offered me that film, I decided to give it a try. That initial process of learning in your first film helps you decide whether you could make a career of it. I decided I could and that's how I'm here.
Is she close to Kajol?
" In a way, yes. We share a warm relationship and now we are doing, a film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, opposite Shah Rukh Khan. We will be meeting more often and whenever we meet, we freak out. Kajol is a very warm person. She has absolutely no airs and feels very protective towards me. She knows I mean well, I want to work hard and make it here. We're both not into the Mukherjee clan too much. I think she also keeps her distance."
What about their other cousin, Sharbani Mukherjee?
"I'm not close to Sharbani at all. She is older to Kajol as well. Sharbani is six years older to Kajol as well as me, she belongs to the older bracket and I don't know her at all."
People who know Kajol and Rani remark that they are quite similar. In fact, Rani is quite arrogant when it comes to dealing with people.
"Kajol and I are the Bengal tigresses today and we are ferocious ones I guess! We will not let anyone take us for granted. Speaking for myself, I'd say people have formed their own opinions even without meeting me. I don't think it's fair to label me arrogant or clever without knowing me. If a journalist hears this from some unit hand on the sets and calls me arrogant over some small incident, it's not fair. If someone misbehaved with me, I'd have to deal with it accordingly. But its not as if I walk around with my head in the air. I have my feet very firmly planted in the ground."
"Kajol and I are both very frank and basically good people but she is more street smart than I am. That's probably because she has been around longer. I'm quite easy going and react only when something upsets me. Mom thinks I'm very chalk and dad worries and thinks I'm quite cool. If I have a problem with someone, I deal with him or her very directly and don't go around sulking. Maybe, its the fire in my eyes that makes people think I'm clever little thing but I hate hypocrisy. When I talk, it comes straight from the heart. I don't manipulate my quotes for make effect."
Ghulam was actually Pooja Bhatt's film but earlier Aamir Khan had suggested Rani Mukherjee. Today she thinks she was plain lucky?
" Of course I'm happy! Any girl would need that kind of a break. All I know is, Mukherjee called me and offered me this film and I did it! It's wrong to call it a reject. Today, who remembers that Ghulam was supposed to be done by Pooja? It's the end result that matters. Now I'm doing Hadh Kar Di Aapne that Mahima was supposed to do but she had date problems. I have no ego hassles. What matters to me is that I'm doing a film of my choice."
Ghulam has triggered off rumours that there was strong chemistry between Rani and Aamir. Now, before we go on to whether this is true or not, I'd say that the Khan has a tremendous influence on Rani. Now that I was meeting her post-Ghulam, I could see it. Rani Mukherjee today talks, walks, laughs, and gesticulates like Aamir. Throughout the interview as I watched her, I could see a replica of Aamir and I told her this.
She laughed, "Yes, lot of people tell me this. My friends say Aamir ka bhoot chad gaya hai mujhpe, but then I've been working with him for the past one year. There has to be some influence, na? We shared a very close relationship..."
Are you suggesting that....?
" No, I simply don't know how to handle this or answer this question. I've just entered the film industry, he's my first important hero and I'm at an age when I would get easily influenced by someone I'm looking up to. I was never in awe of Aamir Khan. I felt we were normal working people who got along very well. I cannot even have a crush on Aamir because he's a married man with two kids. He's a senior actor, one of the best in the country. I respect him and look up to him. If we didn't get along people would have said we were having problems, like they did with Twinkle and Bobby, just because they were not linked. Today, if a pair gets along well, they say they are involved. Can't an actress have a nice, warm relationship with anybody? If she keeps her distance, she is considered arrogant. Does she have to be branded in extremes? She's never allowed to think she's a normal girl. There has to be a man in her life. Anyway, this is just the beginning and it's part and parcel of this profession and I have to live with it. As long as I'm clean and my conscience is clear it's okay. Aamir has been very sporting and protective about me. If people read much more into this friendship, I can't slap them and tell them to shut up."
It's normal for a 20-year-old to have a crush on her first hero. We weren't suggesting a clandestine affair but she did seem infatuated. Maybe he wasn't married...
"Married men are an absolute no for me." After a long, thoughtful pause. "Look let me talk sensibly and not make such sweeping statements. I'm giving you this interview in July'98 right? Who knows the future? This is my mental state now. Next year, I may change my mind, my life may be different. This is the time for me to grow and mature, so a change is bound to come."
If she were to fall in love would she be discreet like the 100 odd actresses or would she be more open like Manisha, Pooja or Kajol?
" If I have a boyfriend, I'd rather keep it to myself. I come from a conservative family and my parents would never accept my relationship with a man, unless it is of a serious kind. I do care about how they react. For me, my family is only my parents and brother Raja. Beyond that, I don't have anybody. So it's important for me not to hurt them or do anything without their approval."
At this point her mother Krishna says," I think love is such a beautiful feeling. If it's true love, you don't go around giving interviews or do photosessions together for publicity. Yeh to dil me rakhne wali bat hai."
What about Rani's friends, how do they react to her closeness to Aamir?
"Oh, they all had crushes on Aamir and even came to meet him. To them, he's a hero; to me he's a co-star. I have three friends who care for me and feel for me-Priya, Amisha and Shuba. We four speak to each other about five times a day. That's how close we are. They are very proud of me and they love to show off that they are my friends and that Im working with Aamir, Shah Rukh, Govinda and Ajay."
She's doing a film with Kajol, isn't she afraid of being overshadowed by the natural actress?
"People say I'm also a natural actress but I just do what the director tells me to do. I don't know who has got a better job. All I know is I'm doing a good film and if someone's contribution is going to help the film I will look up to that person, whether it's Kajol, Shah Rukh or me. Bus project ka faida hona chahiye. I cannot measure my success with Kajol's or any other actresses"
Is she now getting Kajol's films since Kajol is marrying Ajay in December?
"Kajol and I don't discuss our personal lives. And no, not a single film of Kajol has come to me. In fact, maybe doing a film with Ajay Devgun but I don't know him at all, I've never met him."
How will she feel romancing her brother in law?
"For me a co-star is a co-star period"
Does being from a film background help?
"Well, no one acts fresh with you. They have that initial respect that new comers don't get. No one leeches at you. But no one gives you work just because you belong to a film family. Uncle, aunt and cousins can't get you work, you have to prove yourself. My work will speak for me and not these baseless rumours!"
As I put my Dictaphone aside, I wondered how long it would take for this innocence, childishness and enthusiasm to go. Will this little girl survive the tough world out there in those dusty studios or will she give in?
"Tough times don't last tough people do", she grinned.
There was a firmness in her tone and that I hope, does last!