Homecoming

There are few actors in the film industry who have created an impact as huge as Singh has with her spunky debut in 2005,Hazaaron Khawaishein Aisi. After this film on sex and politics based in the 1970s,the girl who had earlier done only a handful of ads,instantly garnered a huge following. But right before her second release,Ruchi Narayan’s Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow,Singh was said to have “retired” to her life in Delhi as ace golfer Jyoti Randhawa’s wife. It was only after rumours of having been “kept within limits” by a jealous Rajput husband had died down that Singh,now mother to a three-year-old Zoraavar,returned with Onir’s Sorry Bhai in 2008. After the film bombed at the box office,the actress again lay low until recently,when she announced a comeback with her mentor Sudhir Mishra.

The film,likely to release in October,is a romance-thriller and has Singh star opposite Irrfan. The 29-year-old is glad that her comeback movie is by Mishra. “He has more faith in me than I have on myself. The character I play is quite unlike me. I would often go back to being myself since I was shooting after a gap. At such times,it helped having him around,” she states. However,for those who will return to the theatres for the spunk Singh had displayed through her character Geeta in Hazaaron,she assures,“Well,grey is exciting. My character in Zindagi has her quirks too. Like Geeta,she uses the man who loves her to help the man she loves.”

Unlike many celebrities who wouldn’t dare to step out without a thick layer of make-up and every strand in place,Singh is effortlessly chic. Even despite having remained out of public eye for more than half the time since her debut,she continues to dominate the Indian man’s fantasy. With a smile playing on her lips,she confesses that she doesn’t understand the male attention people keep saying she receives. “The men who’ve approached me have all been very serious,corporate kinds,who will mull forever before coming up to me and introducing themselves. What Mallika Sherawat receives is what I’d call male attention. Now,you can see I don’t require bodyguards,” she laughs.

Currently in Mumbai to wrap up deals for two more films,Singh literally lives out of a suitcase. As a mother,wife and an actor,she spends time shuttling between Delhi (her new residence in Gurgaon),Mumbai and shooting locales. She admits that playing multiple roles would not be possible without family support. “It has its advantages. This way,you can settle into your personal life and then nurture your career like your baby,” she says.