Last year, during the media promotion of Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na , Genelia D’souza was a different girl. Though that was not her first Hindi film (she had already featured in Tujhe Meri Kasam, Masti, Mere Baap Pehle Aap by then), she was bubbly and always seemed ready to queries from journos and answer them dutifully.
After the success of Jaane Tu ... and a series of coveted ads later (Fanta, Perk, Parker), Genelia, 22-plus, seems to be quite conscious of creating the image of a mature actress. Bubbly she remains, but no longer childish. She wants attention, doesn’t like to be interrupted while answering a question. Each question is properly analysed and a conscious attempt is made not to give sweeping answers.
After all, she has her name in the Limca Book of Records for delivering four superhit films in four languages — Satya (Kannada), Santosh Subramaniyam (Tamil), Ready (Telugu) and Jaane Tu… — all in one year.
In the Capital to promote her recently released Life Partner, an Abbas-Mustanfilm, Genelia comes across as a willing interviewee. Being her first multi-starrer film, she says even if it has shortened her role, she “would have done it anyway.”
“The portrayal of the character is well defined, quite a scene stealer type! Second, there is a level of comfort in my own space and time on the screen.” She adds, “We all were so content in our given roles that there was hardly any time for conflicts with the co-stars.”
Situational comedy
Being a part of a comedy was not difficult, she says. “Abbas-Mustan didn’t ask me to ‘look’ funny or ‘act funnily’. For instance, I sing that song ‘Kooke koyalia’ very seriously in the audition scene. You have got to see my concentration, pitch of the voice that I try to reach, and but because I can’t sing, it becomes funny. As I see people gazing at me, I realise I have goofed up. But the fun increases as Karan, out of sheer love, tells me that I sang very well” Looking at her career graph in Bollywood, Genelia states, “I signed my first Hindi film before I landed in South Indian films, so the general assumption among the film fraternity that southern film dropouts head for Bollywood doesn’t apply to me. I learned on the job as I don’t come from a film family. Both South Indian and Hindi films cashed in on my innocent look. That has become my USP and I am enjoying it.”
