She walks in sporting a floral printed summer dress, with wooden and beaded bracelets adorning her wrists, looking every bit the character of a cheerful Goan girl from her latest film Dum Maaro Dum . “You will forget Bipasha Basu. It's my character Zoe that you will remember,” she says with a smile, settling down to talk.
Dum Maaro Dum brings her back on screen with her Dhoom 2 co-star Abhishek Bachchan. Yet again, she is not cast opposite Abhishek but with Rana Daggubati. “There's a fresh feel to the film because of the chemistry between me and Rana. When Rohan told me a South Indian actor will play the Goan musician, I was amused. I wondered if he'd be able to get the diction right. Rana surprised us. He knew not only his lines, but also my lines and every other actor's dialogues,” says Bipasha.
She is at ease, she says, working with relatively new actors. “I worked with John in his first film. I worked with Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno after his first film was a box office debacle. Neil Nitin Mukesh didn't have a great start with Johnny Gaddar but I did Aa Dekhe Zara with him. If I like a film, the set up and director I am game. In fact, Abhishek and I liked working with Rana and Prateik who have a high level of interest towards work,” she says.
She likes to call Dum Maaro Dum a new age thriller. “There are three pivotal stories — that of Abhishek, Prateik, and Rana and me — that intertwine. The tagline ‘kya hai kahani tere paap ki?' says it all. Each one of us has done something in the past and we pay for our sins. Using Goa as a backdrop has added flavour to the characters. The film explores the drug underbelly of Goa. As Zoe, I am an upbeat girl who represents the spirit of the touristy Goa we all know. I like the way Rohan has used a bit of Konkani and old Portugese music in the background,” she shares.
If she is seen in fewer movies nowadays, she doesn't make excuses of ‘being choosy' or ‘selective': “In the last six years, I've been doing only three movies a year. If I take up more work, I'd die of exhaustion. I am busy with endorsements, events, fitness DVDs, shows, movies and looking after my house. I cannot just spend my life working. I love to live life.” After 10 years of acting, Bipasha is ready for newer challenges. “I moved to acting because I got bored of modelling. I never went to an acting school. Recently, I did a few workshops for my English film, Singularity , directed by Rolland Joffe. I never went out of my way to try and work in an English film and was happy when the offer came to me. Working under Rolland is a dream and I am learning a lot. I am a Maratha warrior, a bodyguard to the Indian queen, who falls in love with a British soldier. The film is an action drama with a beautiful story,” she says.
