Its Barbara Mori's very first venture in Indian cinema, and she’s already the talk of the town. In a tête-à-tête with Spriha Srivastava, the lissome Latino lass shares the anxiety and excitement of her foray into Bollywood…
The Mexican damsel was preening herself in front of the mirror as I entered the room. She greeted me with her stunning smile and a hearty “Hello”, took a quick approval from the stylist about her tresses and offered me a seat. A pink dress flowed over her curvaceous figure, made complete with towering heels and minimal make-up; Barbara Mori looked as glamorous as she looks in the rushes of “Kites”. Without keeping her guest waiting, she propped up a couple of pillows behind her on the bed to make herself comfortable, her light eyes signaling me to shoot…
Was your foray into Hindi cinema a planned one?
“No, never! You know, in Mexico, you can imagine Hollywood and all, but Bollywood, never. It’s been such a huge and exciting experience.”
New to Bollywood as well as the language, Barbara chose her words carefully – perhaps wary of the controversies shadowing her – and when articulated in that Latino accent, exuberated a delightful charm and an innocent honesty. Barbara Mori is a popular TV soap actress in Mexico and has showcased her talent in many local movies too. When talking about her first reaction to being offered a role in Bollywood, Barbara threw her head backwards, seeming to relive that moment. “Ah! I was surprised. I never imagined myself here. My career was only limited to Mexico. I never imagined that a producer from Bollywood would want me in his movie. So, I’m really fortunate…Yeah, very fortunate to have got this opportunity.
And what impression did you have of Hindi cinema?
“I did know about India and the film industry, but I knew about no one from Bollywood. I knew no Hrithik… nobody from the industry. I never watched any Hindi film also. After “Kites” was offered, for the first time I heard about Hrithik, Rakesh and Anurag.”
She shrugged and laughed apologetically at her embarrassing ignorance of the famous names of Mumbai marquee.
So was it the glitz and glamour of the industry that pushed you to grab the offer?
“Oh no, no! I really fell in love with the script. The love story touched my heart. You know, I always want something like this. When I read through scripts, I feel that the story should make me feel something about it, make me cry…or…should just touch me. This story was something like that. That is why I decided to do this movie.”
Anurag Basu, the director of “Kites” had mentioned that the narration of the script to Barbara was extremely exhausting, for Barbara had to struggle with his Indian accent to comprehend the story. On being reminded, she laughed, nodded in affirmation and reminisced those rough patches while shooting. “At times I did not understand what the scene demanded! Before I started shooting, I was very nervous and scared about how it would turn out to be. Yeah I’d thought that Indian director, talking in Indian accent, will be very hard to understand. But then when I got into it, I realised that it was turning out to be good. Sometimes these guys would get talking and I would not understand anything so I would just say, ‘Hey! Speak in English’. And then Anurag would say ‘I am talking in English!’ I didn’t understand because he would talk very fast and I would find it difficult to grasp. But since the first day Hrithik was always there saying, ‘Don’t worry; I would explain it to you’.”
With all new people – Hrithik, Rakesh Roshan and Anurag - what was the first day at the shoot like?
“Oh! I had to start with an action sequence. I was very excited. It was fun.” And then resting her face on her palm, said, “You know, I found the song and dance thing in Hindi movies little weird. It’s very funny actually. And I had to do the same thing! In Mexican cinema, there is nothing like this. I found it weird because Hrithik, at one moment, is killing someone and has blood all over his arm and then suddenly he starts dancing and smiling. So I always laughed about it.” That’s the innocent honesty I was talking about.
The Mexican damsel was preening herself in front of the mirror as I entered the room. She greeted me with her stunning smile and a hearty “Hello”, took a quick approval from the stylist about her tresses and offered me a seat. A pink dress flowed over her curvaceous figure, made complete with towering heels and minimal make-up; Barbara Mori looked as glamorous as she looks in the rushes of “Kites”. Without keeping her guest waiting, she propped up a couple of pillows behind her on the bed to make herself comfortable, her light eyes signaling me to shoot…
Was your foray into Hindi cinema a planned one?
“No, never! You know, in Mexico, you can imagine Hollywood and all, but Bollywood, never. It’s been such a huge and exciting experience.”
New to Bollywood as well as the language, Barbara chose her words carefully – perhaps wary of the controversies shadowing her – and when articulated in that Latino accent, exuberated a delightful charm and an innocent honesty. Barbara Mori is a popular TV soap actress in Mexico and has showcased her talent in many local movies too. When talking about her first reaction to being offered a role in Bollywood, Barbara threw her head backwards, seeming to relive that moment. “Ah! I was surprised. I never imagined myself here. My career was only limited to Mexico. I never imagined that a producer from Bollywood would want me in his movie. So, I’m really fortunate…Yeah, very fortunate to have got this opportunity.
And what impression did you have of Hindi cinema?
“I did know about India and the film industry, but I knew about no one from Bollywood. I knew no Hrithik… nobody from the industry. I never watched any Hindi film also. After “Kites” was offered, for the first time I heard about Hrithik, Rakesh and Anurag.”
She shrugged and laughed apologetically at her embarrassing ignorance of the famous names of Mumbai marquee.
So was it the glitz and glamour of the industry that pushed you to grab the offer?
“Oh no, no! I really fell in love with the script. The love story touched my heart. You know, I always want something like this. When I read through scripts, I feel that the story should make me feel something about it, make me cry…or…should just touch me. This story was something like that. That is why I decided to do this movie.”
Anurag Basu, the director of “Kites” had mentioned that the narration of the script to Barbara was extremely exhausting, for Barbara had to struggle with his Indian accent to comprehend the story. On being reminded, she laughed, nodded in affirmation and reminisced those rough patches while shooting. “At times I did not understand what the scene demanded! Before I started shooting, I was very nervous and scared about how it would turn out to be. Yeah I’d thought that Indian director, talking in Indian accent, will be very hard to understand. But then when I got into it, I realised that it was turning out to be good. Sometimes these guys would get talking and I would not understand anything so I would just say, ‘Hey! Speak in English’. And then Anurag would say ‘I am talking in English!’ I didn’t understand because he would talk very fast and I would find it difficult to grasp. But since the first day Hrithik was always there saying, ‘Don’t worry; I would explain it to you’.”
With all new people – Hrithik, Rakesh Roshan and Anurag - what was the first day at the shoot like?
“Oh! I had to start with an action sequence. I was very excited. It was fun.” And then resting her face on her palm, said, “You know, I found the song and dance thing in Hindi movies little weird. It’s very funny actually. And I had to do the same thing! In Mexican cinema, there is nothing like this. I found it weird because Hrithik, at one moment, is killing someone and has blood all over his arm and then suddenly he starts dancing and smiling. So I always laughed about it.” That’s the innocent honesty I was talking about.
Read these article :-
No comments:
Post a Comment