Shahid and I look great together, says Rani

In an exclusive interview, CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand caught up with Rani Mukherjee and quizzed her about everything under the sun, including her about-to-be-released film Dil Bole Hadippa and the much-talked-about 'impending marriage'. Rajeev Masand also quizzed the actress about her pairing up with Shahid in Dil Bole Hadippa. Here is the complete interview:

Rajeev Masand: Rani, it has been almost a year since we last saw you on screen and I know there has been much speculation in the media about an impending marriage. But your fans really want to know. What have been up to?

Rani Mukherjee: First of all, let me clarify. There is no marriage on the cards. Not at all, no engagement and no marriage. I think they have been trying to marry me off since the last three years and they are just not able to get a fix on the date. But just to clear the air, there is no marriage and there is none happening in the future also. Yes, when I do intend to get married, I shall definitely let you know because you are a friend of mine and of course to the rest of the people like my audience, my fans who deserve to know that I am getting married. I do not think I am that kind of a person or an actress who will hide an important thing like marriage. So, I guess they are hurting my sensibilities by contemplating a marriage of mine and not giving me the respect enough for me to tell the media or tell the fans. They are trying to make an actress out of me who is trying to hide her marriage, which is definitely not the case.

Rajeev Masand: You know, if you were not an actress, this would probably be the time you would have been married. Don't your parents pester you (about getting married)?

Rani Mukherjee: Not at all. I think my parents are only too happy (the way things are). I guess, they only say that when you do decide to get married, please let us know because we have to persuade the guy to live with us. That is what they keep telling me, but no, my parents are just too sweet. They give me the independence to do what I feel like doing. I think that has been the case with my brother too. He had a love marriage, eight years back. He had wanted to run away (elope) with my sister-in-law. But I somehow convinced my parents that it is better to let him marry as he pleases rather than having him running away from home. They are very sweet. My brother and sister-in-law have a great marriage and also have two kids now. I am very happy looking after them, my two babies, Mayesha and Vihaan. That's my life.

Rajeev Masand: So do you baby-sit too?

Rani Mukherjee: Yes. So for the last one year, I have either been working on Dil Bole Hadippa or baby-sitting my niece. So I guess that has been my life. I guess the most important part of my life is that I have been working really hard on myself. That involved a lot of physical training and all because for the past year and a half, I have been working on Dil Bole Hadippa. For the first six months before the shooting started, I had to go through this extensive training on cricket because I play cricket in Dil Bole Hadippa. So I was getting professional training from this coach who is a former cricket player. She taught me the ABCD of cricket, right from holding the bat correctly to kind of stance, hitting the shots, walking with the pads...the works. After that got over, I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to tone my body to look like an athlete. In the process I started enjoying the weight loss and the toning bit.

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Rajeev Masand: And the results are there for all to see.

Rani Mukherjee: Yes, right. So I did all that and then started the film. I was so attached to the film and the script because this was the only film that inspired and excited me. I was getting to play a man, a boy that I have never played before. It was also offering me an opportunity to learn a sport which I have never played all my life. These two things were really, really interesting. Most importantly, my fans were a bit upset with me for doing roles in which all I did was cry. The constant reaction I had been getting was, "Rani, why are you crying in all your films?” So I thought, okay, I need to take a break from that and do films which involved a lot of laughter and was a little more lively and colourful. I think Dil Bole Hadippa just fit the bill perfectly well.

Rajeev Masand: Rani, I think you started working very early in life, right?

Rani Mukherjee: Yes, when I was seventeen.

Rajeev Masand: Wow! But tell me, do you ever feel burnt out?

Rani Mukherjee: Not at all. I feel great and in fact today I feel like I can go another seventeen years from here onwards. I think it has been a great journey for me because I worked with great people, lovely directors, producers and great co-actors. There have been people I have learnt so much from. So, it has been a wonderful experience and that includes meeting people like you too, Rajeev.

Rajeev Masand: So kind of you, thank you. You have said you enjoyed getting into shape. Give us a few tips. What was it like really?

Rani Mukherjee: See, actually what I did initially was to decide that I did not actually want to or need to lose weight but actually tone my body. If you see athletes or sportspeople, they have very athletic, worked out and toned bodies. So you need a toned body to look like an athlete. So my main concern was that if I am shooting for a film and am on the field, I should not 'not look like an athlete'. I should look like an athlete, firstly for my role and secondly, I guess when I started the toning down, I wanted to lose that little extra weight that I had put on towards the end of Thoda Pyaar, Thoda Magic.

Rajeev Masand: Okay.

Rani Mukherjee: So, I started with power-yoga. I did a lot of yoga. I dis a lot of cardio and when I had lost the weight, I did a lot of weight training to tone up the body. The training regimens of course included zipping up my mouth for six months and not eat my favourite macher-jhol-bhaat and mishti (sweets). I also had to forego the French fries which I adore. But after that I got into a balanced diet mode where I ate nutritious food and food that helped me look great. My main concern was that when people start losing weight, it shows on their faces. I am looking bright and healthy because my food is very, very nutritious. What I also introduced to in the bargain is that the food you must eat is the one that is good for you. That is for life.

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Rajeev Masand: Like salads and all, sounds kind of boring, doesn't it?

Rani Mukherjee: No. Not at all. It is normal rice, daal and chicken, fish and oatmeal and all kinds of tasty food. But it must be eaten in the right proportion and eaten in the right way.

Rajeev Masand: Okay. So, for the next film, if they ask you to put on weight...

Rani Mukherjee: No, I will not. I will not do that because it has been quite a task to lose this weight. It would be very easy to do that by just binging but I will not do that because I am really enjoying my weight loss. I enjoy the way I am looking right now. I can go to a store and pick up the clothes, and they all look good on me.

Rajeev Masand: Was there a problem earlier?

Rani Mukherjee: No, there wasn't really a problem. But when you have toned your body, you can wear these really figure-hugging clothes which make you look good. So I am really happy right now.

Rajeev Masand: Okay, tell us one thing about Rani Mukherjee that nobody knows.

Rani Mukherjee: I am really good maid. I can do really good work. I can wash the dishes really, do the sweeping and swabbing of floor really well. I can wash clothes really well. I guess I am good maid.

Rajeev Masand: I am sure no body knows that.

Rani Mukherjee: Yes, and it is only for your show.

Rajeev Masand: Dil Bole Hadippa is about a Punjabi girl who pretends to be a boy so she can play cricket.

Rani Mukherjee: Yes, a sardar (Sikh) boy.

Rajeev Masand: Was there a lot of time spent in make-up everyday?

Rani Mukherjee: Luckily, Manish did my costumes for the film. He dressed up Veera as well as Veer. It required a lot of brain-wracking work for the Veera part because I had already played Babli, a Punjabi girl. When you talk about a Punjabi girl, you cannot do anything much different from maybe giving her a jeans and kurta or a salwar-kurta and a Patiala (salwar). So Manish came up with this idea of adding a koti to the entire outfit. The character looked very colourful beacuse we are very conscious of the fact that we do not want the character to look like Babli. Now for Veer's look, I think my director Anurag was sure what he wanted. He wanted the boy to look like any other boy who wanted to play cricket. So he told Manish that he wanted me to wear trousers which are not really trousers but track pants with the loose shirts. So Anurag was very sure what he wanted to see me in but the colours and the palette was decided by Manish. The sardar look was in a way inspired by Harbhajan Singh. We had this make-up artist from London who was designing the look of the sardar character, so they in fact sent a picture of Harbhajan to him, saying we want Rani's look to be modelled around this kind of a sardar. Basically we wanted a young sardar with the pugri and daadhi-mooch (beard and moustache) in an unkempt, ruffled look, a young sardar and not a well-grown beard or hair. I think Mike has done a wonderful job.

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Rajeev Masand: So putting on the moustache and beard...

Rani Mukherjee: That I think was the only tedious thing for me.

Rajeev Masand: And tying up your hair everyday?

Rani Mukherjee: Tying up the hair was fine, but the daadhi mooch thing was too much because I would go like "Oh no!" every morning.

Rajeev Masand: Yes, and the glue.

Rani Mukherjee: Yes, the glue. When the glue would come on to my cheeks, I would really feel stiff. When it was being put I would say, Dada, just put it on and let us get it over and done with. Just put it on fast and be done with. But I enjoyed playing Veer so much that everything was worth its while. I did not mind putting on the beard, the glue because I knew that when I would go out on to the set, I was going to have a great time.

Rajeev Masand: Right.

Rani Mukherjee: Then again, coming to the van to get the make-up off was a pain. To put on a solution to get it out, things getting into my mouth and all, it was really sick. But I was so happy playing that character that all this was like not really important.

Rajeev Masand: You play cricket. Do you enjoy learning cricket?

Rani Mukherjee: Actually, I am in love with cricket now. It is such a lovely game, it's so unfortunate that so many of us in my generation were not encouraged to play cricket. Parents say things like, do not go out in the sun, you will end up darkening your skin complexion. I have an elder brother, Raja. He would play gulley-cricket in the streets with the boys and if I came out to play, he would shout, "What are you doing here? Go inside the house. So I never really got a chance to play it, you know. Girls in a group rarely play cricket the way the guys do. So I was never allowed. Unfortunately, I had a brother who bullied me. But with this film, I got an opportunity to learn the game. Now, honestly I really enjoy watching the game. That is because I know now what part of the field the ball is going to. Now I know what shot the cricketer is hitting and now I understand what an LBW (leg before wicket) means. Previously, I would be like - whatever happened? How did he get out? I would ask these inane questions to my Dad and my brother. But now at least I know so I feel a lot more educated. I like watching cricket now.

Rajeev Masand: The obvious comparison would be with Chak De India which had a girls' hockey team. Here it is a girl wanting to play cricket.

Rani Mukherjee: I think the only similarity is that here we are talking about women who are really good at the game. In Chak De India also spoke about girls who can really play as well as the boys. If you see the girls' match with the boys in Chak De, it shows that the girls are as good as the boys. In this film too, we are encouraging a lot more women to play cricket because it is a great game.

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Rajeev Masand: Okay. Shahid Kapoor, your co-star in this film is junior to you as an actor. He came in much later. Was there any concern about whether you two would look good, say right together or otherwise?

Rani Mukherjee: On the first day, when I and Shahid looked into the monitor at us together, we were like, "Wow! We look great together.” I think the producer decides who he needs to cast and I think Adi was confident about casting Shahid and me together. Somehow, he had visualised that we would look great. And judging by the kind of reactions and feedback that I am getting, I think they are saying very good things about us.

Rajeev Masand: Sure. You know you were in this Pepsi commercial with Shahid long ago when you were a star and he was still a model. Did you think at that time that this boy is going to grow up and be my lead?

Rani Mukherjee: Actually, when Shahid did the commercial, I was just about seventeen when I was starting and he was I don't remember exactly, maybe probably of the same age or maybe a year or so junior. But I remember he was quite in awe of me and he used to keep on watching me like that. But I do not think I thought on those lines because I was too busy making my own career. I did not look at any boy and go, "Oh, he is going to land up as my hero and I am going to be working opposite him.” No, I did not have any of those thoughts when I saw him at that time. I was just trying to make him feel comfortable because there was Shah Rukh, me and Kajol there. And I was also fairly new. It was my third film after which I did the Pepsi commercial. So I too was new and wide-eyed, trying to get things right and Shahid was also there.

Rajeev Masand: Rani, very little is known about your early film influences. What were the films you grew up watching in the early years?

Rani Mukherjee: I watched a lot of films which had Sridevi and Madhuri acting in them. I was besotted with them. I just could not take my eyes off them. They had a huge influence on me. I used to just continue watching wide-eyed and not even blink. I remember going to a set of a film that my uncle was directing, Paththar Ke Insaan. I had bunked school to be able to go watch the shoot. I just continued watching her wide-eyed and even today Sriji (Sridevi) remembers me as that kid watching her wide-eyed. Those two were so fabulous that nobody can fill up their space because they were phenomenal. They were complete actresses.

Rajeev Masand: Yes. Your family has been in the film business for years. Were you always exposed to films and film sets from an early age?

Rani Mukherjee: Yes. I was exposed to films and film sets from a very early age but for some strange reasons I was very disinterested.

Rajeev Masand: Okay.

Rani Mukherjee: I think the only thing that I was wide-eyed about was my maasi's an actress, Debashree Roy in Calcutta. So when my mother used to take us for the summer vacations to Calcutta, she would just pack us into the Geetanjali (Express) and take us. I used to want to meet her (Debashree Roy) and she used to be very busy and I just wanted to meet her. She was working round the clock. So I used to go see her in the studios and when I would enter her make-up room, I would feel that this is a fantasy world. I would see her in a chair before the mirror with light. I still remember the Malmal cloth they would wet and put on the face with ice. It was a common practice then as it would get very hot. A huge piece of white cloth like the malmal cloth put into water...I still remember the make-up artist fussing over my aunt and making her look really pretty.

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Rajeev Masand: Right.

Rani Mukherjee: Now I see my niece doing the same thing to me. I see her quite in awe of me, whatever I am doing. When I am getting ready for work, I see her watching me. But those were really my first impressions of what films are.

Rajeev Masand: Do you remember your first day of shooting, facing the camera?

Rani Mukherjee: My first day of shooting, yes of course I remember it very, very clearly. I was in this dulhan outfit. My God, the first film is Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, can you imagine. I know Manish who was there, he had designed that outfit. I remember I had to give this mahurat shot and then start shooting for the film. But before that, I was really apprehensive and wondering if I will be able to pull it off. I thought to myself, I do not think that this is my cup of tea or whatever. They gave me my lines to say. I realised when the camera rolled and I said all my lines well. I remember thinking, oh, this is very easy, I could do it so well. I just have to say my lines. I remember my first day shooting very well.

Rajeev Masand: You know, your first film was just an obscure film that did not do very well, not too many people saw it. Did you ever feel after that film that I wonder where this is going? Did you ever think life is going to change the way it did?

Rani Mukherjee: You know, it is so strange. That film Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat is so important to me because that actually a very big film for and I find it very strange when you say that not many people actually saw it. Today too, I get so many people coming up to me and telling me about my first film. The best part is that people concerned, like Shah Rukh, Aamir and Adi who are very instrumental in my career and in my life, they have seen that film. Shah Rukh saw it on TV and saw me in a promo. He saw a spark as he says, in me. Aamir at the same time saw me and kind of recommended me to Mukeshji. And Adi is famous for going to the theatre and watching every kind of film on the first day. So he saw that film too and he told Karan about me and said, "If you are not getting an actress, go for her." Karan was really apprehensive because he wanted this Tina like a very south Mumbai kind of girl. What I think gave him confidence though, was I think the fact that I had already signed Ghulam with Aamir, so he was like - "Okay, she is working with Aamir, so I think I will take her." So I guess that film really made a mark in my career in a sense that it was because of that film that I got all my other movies.

Rajeev Masand: Sure. We wish you the best of luck. Looking forward to seeing Dil Bole Hadippa and I hope you will continue to entertain us like you have been for all these years. Thank you so much.

Rani Mukherjee: Thank you.