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Adding love to bluff

As "Bluffmaster" comes to town this Friday, Anuj Kumar catches up with Priyanka Chopra

MASTER'S MATE Priyanka Chopra is going through a high in her career, but she asserts she hasn't planned it Photo: Anu Pushkarna

First we thought like any other beauty queen who ventured into the lanes of Tinselville, Priyanka Chopra also has just some rehearsed smiles and quotes to offer. Today, with hits like Aitraaz, Mujh Se Shaadi Karogi and Waqt to her credit, the equation has changed. She can act. Look at the latest. Meena Kumari, Zeenat Aman and Priyanka Chopra. Connection? Well, Priyanka has been asked to bridge decades, and with it the great Indian beauty divide.

She is supposed to play Zeenat Aman's character in Farhan Akhtar's take on Don and has been offered badi bahu's role in the remake of Guru Dutt's classic Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam to be remade by Rituparno Ghosh. "It's great to be offered such varied roles spread over decades... getting into the shoes of Zeenat Aman and Meena Kumari for both were ultimate in their heydays, but as we have yet to start shooting I don't know how I will play them." As practised as you can get from Priynaka? "No, I haven't signed Sahib... yet. As for Don's Roma, I am not going to copy Zeenatji, but since the script is going to be the same, I will try to capture the essence of the character my way." To take phrases from her past, everything seems figured out or rather perfect. This Friday she has Bluffmaster and has Rakesh Roshan's Krrish and Rumy Jaffery's God Tusi Great Ho in the kitty.

By instinct

"Nothing is planned, everything has been instinctive in my career. It could not have the other way round for I come from a non-film background and all my life I have watched films as an audience." Here life stands for 23 years, and according to her she works 19 hours a day. "For now, work is the only love in my life. I think it's my small town background from North India that has helped. It keeps me rooted to my values. Every navratri, I go back to Bareilly to catch up with my friends." But many a Mandakini from the North have lost their identity in the glamour haze? "Then it might be my Army background that has instilled a sense of discipline."

However, talking of Bluffmaster, Priyanka is not as indecisive. She says her role is to add love and romance to a con film. "This is one of those rare characters that are close to real me. The film runs on two tracks. One is bluff and the other is Simmi's unconditional love for Roy, the conman played by Abhishek Bachchan. Roy doesn't reveal his profession to Simmi, so the film takes turn when she comes to know about the reality."

A long-standing charge against her has been that she owes success to exposure. Retorts she, "In Waqt, I played a bahu so in Barsaat. If while playing a bahu I look sexy, I can't help it. As for Aitraaz, it was an author-backed role that I could not say no to. I have always said yes to exposure when it is roped into the script with reason. I am not doing the latest genre for films, which are made specifically for skin show. Nothing against them for they are doing decent business but my choices have been clear right from the outset. I had to think a hundred times before accepting Aitraaz."

So what's missing? "A period film." But she had been offered J.P. Dutta's Umrao Jaan? "Yes, I was. Unfortunately he asked 90 days flat, which coincided with the dates of Krrish. I still miss the role, but Aishwarya would make a perfect Umrao Jaan for she is a brilliant dancer."

Back to the rehearsed ways!

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