Mahie Gill, who wowed critics and picked up several awards for her performance as the bold new-age Paro in Anurag Kashyap's “Dev.D”, is back with her next film “Utt Pataang”. “It's a whacky thriller,” she says, describing her role as that of a “loud and glamorous con woman”.
Directed by debutant Srikanth Velagaleti under the Warner Bros banner, the film releases on February 4. After portraying the role of a girl from a village in almost every film of hers, Mahie thinks this city girl avatar suits her well. “She smokes, she abuses and she has no qualms about doing it,” says Mahie of Sanjana, her character in “Utt Pataang”.
The movie tells the story of Ram (Vinay Pathak) who is on the verge of a break up and gets caught in a dangerous money deal. Throw in a private detective (Saurabh Shukla), a heartbroken woman (Mona Singh), a French-obsessed gangster (Vinay Pathak again as Lucky) and the gangster's moll (Mahie Gill), and what you get is a gripping cat-and-mouse chase.
Mahie, who was flooded with offers to play ‘bold' roles after “Dev.D”, says that she had to refuse several of them. “I was inundated with them. Though there was no skin show in the film, Paro's attitude made people think that I would dare to bare for every role. I had to refuse many films that were not worth it. I am happy with the decision I made,” says Mahie. In the upcoming “Paan Singh Tomar”, based on the true story of a runner from Madhya Pradesh who turns into a rebel, Mahie plays Paan Singh's (Irrfan Khan) wife. She also has a movie named “Michael” directed by Ribhu Dasgupta, with Naseeruddin Shah. “It's a fabulous role as a nurse to Michael, who is a cop who kills a child when he is on his job. He starts losing his eyesight and turns into a projectionist.” She has a second film with Tigmanshu Dhulia (after “Paan Singh Tomar”) titled “Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster”, in which she plays Jimmy Shergill's wife. “It is Tigmanshu's interpretation of the classic “Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam””, says Mahie.
The actress has recently signed two films for which she begins shooting this month. Anand Mishra's “Pappu Ki Love Story” has Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak. “It's a film about a person writing a novel, and everyone has a double role in it. I have also recently been cast opposite Sunny Deol in a film by Chandraprakash Dwivedi (of “Pinjar” fame). It is tentatively titled “Assi@kashi.com”. Assi is the name of a ghat at Kashi, and the movie has an amazing script.”
