It’s after a year of ‘sitting at home doing nothing’ that Pia Bajpai returns to the silver screen focussed on good cinema this time. Despite her initial success in films such as PoiSolla Porom , Goa and Ko , the actress from Etawah couldn’t sustain it and made a few career missteps. With Lakshmi Ramakrishnan’s Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe and Priyadarshan’s Malayalam comedy Amayum Muyalum , her Hindi debut Mumbai Delhi Mumbai and an indie experimental X lined-up, Pia is sure making a comeback — and how.
“I have no control of a film’s success but I want to at least be proud of them and my work. Who wants to be known as the girl who did those forgettable films? So I waited till I was truly gripped to sign a new film, even though it’s considered a cardinal sin for an actress to stay away from the limelight for over a year. It was during this sabbatical that I chanced upon a tweet by Lakshmi Ramakrishnan asking for actors for her second film. I’m a huge fan of Aarohanam and I immediately sent her a message and we took it from there. It’s certainly a film I’m proud of,” she says.
The film revolves around the trip a lorry makes from Tiruchy to Karaikal and Pia has played an intense character – a departure from her usual roles. “My role was emotionally draining because of the complex characterisation. Heroines aren’t usually offered such roles and I’m glad I was. As actresses you’re used to focussing on hair and make-up, but for this film, I had to shoot wearing the same unwashed clothes for 20 days. You come on the sets fresh, you get into the costume and you’re immediately transformed into the character — every added stain significant to the journey of the character.”
Not many know that it was a white lie that brought the actress to Tamil cinema in the first place. At a time when she did not even know which the four South Indian film industries were, she claimed she could speak Tamil with ease. “I thought South cinema was just Rajini and Kamal back then but that didn’t stop me from saying yes when Priyadarshan asked if I spoke Tamil,” she laughs. “He was casting for Poi Solla Porom and I thought I could give it a shot.
But shooting for it was a nightmare and I remember crying on the sets for lying, as I couldn’t understand a word. Miscommunication was another reason I missed a great role in Nadodigal .”
Languages are not as much a problem now for her; she has expert at mugging lines in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu.
“I love what the southern films have done for me and I will always come back to them. However, my dream is to act in Hindi films as it’s my mother tongue. We’re from a small village and my parents haven’t watched any movie in a theatre — leave alone mine. I’ve completed my first Hindi film Mumbai Delhi Mumbai and I’m waiting for them to watch it in Mumbai. I hope they like it,” she says.
