Exclusive Interview: Chitrangada Singh

Rajeev Masand: My guest today is a wonderful actress who made such a lasting impression with her two films that both filmmakers and audiences were heartbroken when she left soon after. Four years on, she is back and this time, presumably, for the long haul. Determined to continue making movies that remain etched in people’s mind for long, she’s making careful and calculated choices. Let’s welcome Chitrangada Singh.

You’ve just completed your comeback film Sorry Bhai. You’d been away for about four years before this film. What is it exactly that drew you back? Was it your love for acting or the fact that you were being missed?

Chitrangada Singh: It’s simply cinema that has brought me back. I was missing acting a lot. It took me fours years to completely realise that I’m happiest when I’m acting and it is when I’m truly in my element.

Rajeev Masand: Were you planning on retuning to movies on your own or was it Sorry Bhai which lured you back?

Chitrangada Singh: I was already thinking of making phone calls and coming back. It was a perfect coincidence that at about the same time, Onir got my number from somewhere and called me up. He mailed the script to me and I loved it. The next day he boarded a flight and before we knew it, we were sat in my drawing room, signing the contract. I think Onir is a very good director.

Rajeev Masand: Did you enjoy his previous films?

Chitrangada Singh: Absolutely. He tried to handle difficult subjects with My Brother Nikhil and Bas Ek Pal and he did it very well. There was a certain kind of sensibility to those films.

Rajeev Masand: I’ve seen Sorry Bhai, which releases on November 28, and I think it is a nice, warm, family holiday kind of a movie. I particularly found your character in the film quite interesting. She’s anything but a conventional and traditional girl. She takes a bold and brave decision and takes responsibilities for her actions, yet she’s never a victim.

Chitrangada Singh: Yes.

Rajeev Masand: I can see why it’s a great role for an actor, but were you concerned that some people might perceive her as morally questionable?

Chitrangada Singh: I think we’re all morally questionable sometime or the other and that is what makes you ordinary and girl-next-door. Everybody takes decisions which would be morally incorrect to some. My character in the movie is traditional in a lot of ways but she’s not a victim. She grows into realising that if she becomes a victim, a lot of other people are going to suffer as well. At the beginning of the film, she probably comes across as slightly submissive, emotional, and confused but by the end of it she emerges as the strongest of the lot.

Rajeev Masand: What do you look for when you’re picking roles? Do you look for characters which you can relate to or characters who will reveal themselves while you play them?

Chitrangada Singh: I definitely have to be able to relate to my character on some level so that I can get more out of it, and eventually become the character. I have to love that character that I’m going to play. Even if it’s wicked, I have to love that wicked person.

Rajeev Masand: Is it more exciting when you know that it’s going to be a difficult-to-play character?

Chitrangada Singh: Definitely. I think any actor would love something with more challenges. It’s boring to play simple things.

Rajeev Masand: In Sorry Bhai, you act with Shabana Azmi. She’s known to be an intimidating performer. Did you feel that while working with her?

Chitrangada Singh: I was definitely hesitant. I was intimidated but I guess that’s because you allow yourself to be intimidated with the aura that she has and the person that’s she’s become today. Otherwise, she’s a fantastic person. We got along really well. She made me very comfortable and I learnt a lot from the way she thinks through a scene, the questions she ask and why she asks them — the whole process. She very happily shared all of it with me. She was very encouraging. By the end of it, I don’t think I’m intimidated at all but I am in awe of her.

Rajeev Masand: She plays your mother-in-law-to-be in the film and there’s a clash between these two women. There’s a conflicting relationship. Were those scenes difficult to do?

Chitrangada Singh: They were difficult because we were treading a very fine line in the film. I can’t get too aggressive and she didn’t want to be too aggressive. There had to be a slightly contained sort of animosity, so it was slightly difficult.

Rajeev Masand: Shabana Azmi has very famously endorsed what everyone’s been saying for sometime now: you bring back memories of Smita Patil. Did she tell you that while you were working with her?

Chitrangada Singh: Yes, she told me that over and over again, I think, the first or the second time she saw me . She was like, “Oh god, you give me the jitters. Sometimes it’s like she’s walked in.”

Rajeev Masand: Were you a fan of Smita Patil. How does it feel, when people tell you that you remind them of her?

Chitrangada Singh: Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of Smita Patil. I liked what she did and I thought she had this mysterious air about her. She was very earthy. She was definitely different from say Hema Malini or Rekha, but at that time I was at an age when I couldn’t appreciate her work. But now understand her work and see what she’s done, I think she was a fantastic actress. Films like Arth and Mandi… she was pretty ahead of her time.

Rajeev Masand: Who are the actresses who’ve been your idols?

Chitrangada Singh: I was completely in awe of Rekha . She’s so beautiful. At one point, Hema Malini was my dream girl. I thought she was beautiful too. But I think it’s Shabana and Smita now that I’ve seen their body of work. They are really something else.

Rajeev Masand: Is it hard being a mother and wife, while being an actor? The travelling, the long hours and the outdoor shoots — do they take a toll on your personal life?

Chitrangada Singh: Not really. I’m not that busy at the moment. I’m, not like the number one actress in the Bollywood so its not like I’m, completely booked all the time. It’s not difficult at all, because at least I’m not in a 9-to-5 job. I don’t have a boss so I don’t have to report in every morning. I choose my projects and I manage my time. I can prioritise my work and I’m managing it pretty well.

Rajeev Masand: I asked this question because of the rumours that started doing the rounds after you finished Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Kal, that your husband and his family were not supportive of your acting career. But you have in a sense said that those rumours aren’t true.

Chitrangada Singh: That’s true and that’s what I want to say again. I was married when I did Hazaaron and wouldn’t have been in it if my husband hadn’t supported me. He’s a professional sportsman himself and he understands that when you have talent you’ve got to do something about it.

Rajeev Masand: So let’s not beat around the bush — why did you take off right after you got glowing reviews?

Chitrangada Singh: That huge welcome really took some time to translate into work. Hazaaron wasn’t a planned move for me. I didn’t want to be an actress at that point . I was happy doing my ad films and print work but then Hazaaron and Kal happened. I think too much was being asked out of me and I was slightly confused. I just felt like I couldn’t manage all that. I couldn’t keep up with it. It was all very personal. It was my inability to understand the business of cinema.

Rajeev Masand: You had a baby in the interim. Did you miss acting at that time?

Chitrangada Singh: No. There was no time to miss anything at that time. But as he started growing up, I thought it was time for me to go back to doing what I enjoy.

Rajeev Masand: Has your husband seen Sorry Bhai?

Chitrangada Singh: No, he has not. He’s very busy. He travels almost nine months in a year, so his career is very demanding. I would not want to take him away from that, but he will watch it soon.

Rajeev Masand: Do you enjoy sports and travelling with him?

Chitrangada Singh: I do. I’ve done that a lot. I’ve been travelling for almost eight years with him. I’m very involved in the sport myself. I play golf myself and my brother is a professional golfer.

Rajeev Masand: Does the fact that you’re married and the mother of a one-and-a-half-year-old son, make you want to be approached for certain kinds of roles?

Chitrangada Singh: I don’t think so. See Malaika Arora. I think she’s a huge inspiration for me. I don’t know if it’s sitting in somebody’s mind. As long as I deliver as an actor and I do a good job, then I don’t think anything else should really matter.

Rajeev Masand: You’ve committed yourself to doing Aur Devadas with Sudhir Mishra. The movie is a political take on the classic drama and you play Chandramukhi. What drew you to it?

Chitrangada Singh: I think the complexity of the character and her purity is what drew me to it. Purity in the sense that everything she does, she does out of pure love for him and complex because she manages to fall in love with a man who is not in love with her and she’s helpless about it. She helps him become the chief minister. He is an aspiring politician in this film. I play a political socialite, who’s a keeper of secrets. She can pull strings.

Rajeev Masand: I’ve always felt that the Chandramukhi’s character was the more exciting one in Devadas. Wasn’t she?

Chitrangada Singh: I think so. I think she’s exciting because she doesn’t get what she wants and she’s at it. It’s unconditional love which is rare.

Rajeev Masand: Which direction do you see yourself going in term of films and filmmakers?

Chitrangada Singh: I am not much of a planner. I would want to do films with good directors. I would want to do films where I am an integral part of the film. It doesn’t matter whether it’s big or small or if it’s a big banner. I would love to work with people lie Sriram Raghavan, Ashutosh Gowariker and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, for whom creativity really matters.

Rajeev Masand: Wasn’t there some interest from the makers of Delhi Belly — the makers of an international English language film that Aamir Khan was producing? I know they spoke with you about that film.

Chitrangada Singh: There was some talk but it didn’t materialise after that.

Rajeev Masand: Is it true that they asked your to screen test for the role and you flatly refused?

Chitrangada Singh: No, that’s not true.

Rajeev Masand: Surely you’ve heard that you’re a thinking actress. You’re perceived as a serious actress

Chitrangada Singh: I don’t know where that comes from. Thinking actress… probably but I’m just two films old. To try and compartmentalise me already, would be a little too harsh. I do look like Smita Patil and that’s a very big compliment for me, but I just need some more experience. I too can dance and do all of that.

Rajeev Masand: Would you like to be in the mainstream more?

Chitrangada Singh: I would love to if it’s a good script. It has to be an interesting script, a story which is well told by the director, that’s what matters to me.

Rajeev Masand: What are some of the films that you would like to be apart of?

Chitrangada Singh: I loved Jodhaa Akbar. That was very beautifully and simply made film. The love story and everything was beautiful. I would have liked to be Jodhaa.

Rajeev Masand: What were your early influences?

Chitrangada Singh: Amitabh Bachchan. I think my mother sat and watched films like Mandi and Arth but I was just watching Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini.

Rajeev Masand: What are your favourite Bachchan films?

Chitrangada Singh: There are too many to name but I guess my favourite are Satte Pe Satta, Deewar and Sholay. It’s amazing how things came together for Sholay — almost magical.

Rajeev Masand: Have you ever had the opportunity to meet him?

Chitrangada Singh: No, I have not.

Rajeev Masand: Is it something that you look forward to?

Chitrangada Singh: I would. I’ll definitely shake his hand once and tell him I’m a big fan.

Rajeev Masand: You live in Delhi with your family,. God willing, Sorry Bhai does well and you want to work more prolifically, would you consider setting up home in Mumbai?

Chitrangada Singh: Yes, I am looking for a place somewhere around Bandra. I have family in Mumbai and if things work out and I’ll come and stay with them.

Rajeev Masand: So this time you’re not going anywhere?

Chitrangada Singh: Definitely not. Keep me here.

Rajeev Masand: Well, best of luck. Let’s hope we can always expect to see you in exciting roles and films.

Chitrangada Singh: Thank you.

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