Her ability to hook is infamous. From temperamental Sallu to the re-bound darling Viveik Oberoi to the Bachchan scion — she has cast her spell and walked in and out a winner. She has been called ‘calculative’ and ‘strategic’ but her status quo in Bollywood has only gotten bigger. But with Robot she has managed the scoop of all hooks — Kalanithi Maran as producer and Rajinikanth as her robot. With Raavan leaving a trail of angry fans, not to mention some distributors, Robot is perhaps the perfect blessing to put her back in the running.
She is the alpha female of our Indian film industry and collects as much star miles for a successful film as the hero. But her humility has never deserted her. “I loved working with Shankar on this project. He was my guru of sorts. I learnt so much from him during Jeans. I adore his work ethic.” Surely it has to be more than his tutoring that makes him an ace director? “Yes. He never forgets the common man and the common man’s fantasies. He gauges concepts that will entertain the audiences and that is his greatest signature,” she says rather matter-of-factly.
Ash might be a total stranger as she hides behind a carefully crafted public image but Sanaa (the character she plays in Robot) she says, “I play a today’s girl with grain and substance who is pursuing further studies in the medical field. There is a degree of logic imparted to her persona.” Her most formidable weapon is perhaps the control she wields on information flow. And she has never been the one to lavish praise on her co-stars or say flattery things about the fraternity. In fact she decries the word fraternity, as she famously quipped on Koffee with Karan, “What fraternity are you talking about?” But when it is Rajinikanth, even the prima donna relents. “I have read so much about the adulation surrounding Rajini sir. He is humility personified. Despite his superstar status and hype around him, he is so committed and inspires all of us around him.” Wonder what the princess of Prateeksha (Amitabh’s house) calls him? “We all called him superstar on the sets.”
It is evident that it is her raging drive to be numero uno that makes carefully select films across languages, genres and borders. But has she now mastered the language? “I am confident but I won’t break into a conversation.”
Abhishek known for his impromptu jigs at parties and awards ceremony is a music junkie, is she? “This is a tough question. Shankar and Rahman are magic and I don’t have to be the one saying this because the nation acknowledges it.” A rather predictable answer! “Well with their brilliance too, they come under a lot of pressure and they never fail to deliver. This film has a specific call in terms of music and they haven’t moved away from that. It takes a lot of inner confidence in your craft to make honest music with the right spirit.”
With elaborate posters and teasers on television, her costumes look well-thought out. “The look of the film is contemporary. Except in the dream sequence we shot in Machu Picchu, Peru. We did a tribal look which has a lot of elements from there but is also very contemporary and modern keeping in mind today’s audiences.”