Celeb watch

The butterflies in her stomach are as big as a dove. Actor Sonam Kapoor,after the disastrous debut in Saawariya(2007),is keeping her fingers and toes crossed for Delhi-6,which releases on February 20. “With each passing day,I get anxious thinking of the film’s performance,” says the 23-year-old.

Clearly,Saawariya still gives her nightmares but she says there are no regrets. “I cannot argue with the figures for Saawariya. But it was not meant for a mass audience. I am glad there was a section of audience,which admired the film,and I started my career with Sanjay Leela Bhansali,” she states.

In Delhi-6,Kapoor plays Bittu who lives with her parents in Chandni Chowk. A livewire with a rebellious streak,she finds her life taking an unexpected turn when Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) enters her world. “Roshan has come down from the US with his ailing grandmother (Waheeda Rahman),who wants to spend her last days in her birthplace,” says Kapoor. “Abhishek is a prankster but also a competent actor. Not once did I feel that I was cast opposite a star.” The two hit it off on the sets and Kapoor gushes about Junior B’s “generosity”. But the chemistry is nothing compared to what she enjoyed with Ranbir Kapoor on the sets of Saawariya. “Ranbir and I are childhood friends,so the base for a good chemistry already existed,” she adds.

Sinking into her character was not difficult because of the friendly advice pouring in from all corners. “I have friends in Delhi who keep telling me how Delhi girls are inherently shy and have a lot of nakhras compared to Mumbai girls who have frank opinions. My paternal family is from Delhi and I frequently keep dropping by the Capital to shop. I feel Delhi is the shopping capital of India,” she says. Among her favourite shopping stops are Kinari Bazaar in Old Delhi and Ogaan.

Kapoor insists she’s isn’t among the actors who can juggle more than one film at a time. Delhi-6,she adds,comes more than a year after Saawariya. “I am one of those girls who can’t multi-task,” but ever since wrapping up Delhi-6 in August,she has been busy with magazine shoots and reality show appearances. “I have grown more comfortable and confident in my skin. I took this time off to work at my own pace,read and cook,” says this trained Kathak dancer who loved ‘being herself’ in the Masakali video. It helped that father Anil Kapoor had given the green light for Delhi -6. Will it be like father,like daughter? Delhi-6 might just answer that.

The Other Woman
Actor Kalki Koechlin on her unconventional debut film and why she is fine being on the fringes of Bollywood
Paromita Chakrabarti
When 25-year-old theatre artist Kalki Koechlin auditioned for the role of Chanda in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D,all she knew was that the character was Indian literature’s most talked about courtesan. “It wasn’t quite the role one would choose for their debut but the script was so rivetting that I had no hesitations,” she recalls.
It’s a move Koechlin has,in fact,been congratulating herself on. The film’s critical acclaim has extended to her portrayal of Chanda,the schoolgirl caught in an MMS scandal who goes on to lead a double life as a sex worker. “When the promos started,my parents were a little worried because Chanda’s image was very explicit. At the premiere,my mom was crying and my dad said I had done a good job portraying the innocence of the character,” she smiles.
Koechlin though has hardly had a very conventional upbringing. Born to French parents who moved to Pondicherry three decades ago,her childhood was spent in boarding school in Ooty,and then at home in Bangalore,followed by a course in theatre and drama in London University. “That’s why I speak Tamil and French so well,and my Hindi’s got a Tamil twang to it,” she laughs. She’s gearing up for a career in tinsel town,but is quick to admit that she doesn’t quite fit into typical Bollywood mould. “Let’s be honest,things will work for me if it’s an alternative script,” she says. When we ask if her relationship with director Anurag Kashyap has given her a headstart,Koechlin emphatically denies it. “I’d rather keep my professional and my personal life separate. My outsider status never hampered my entry into Bollywood,I hardly think it will matter now,” she says.