Double Break

Pakhi exudes infectious enthusiasm. However,once she starts talking,she reveals her pre-release jitters. “As soon as the films promos went on air,I disconnected myself from all social networking sites. I don’t want to know about any reactions. I am very nervous,” she states honestly. Her candour is also apparent in the way she asks us to go slow with the questions and chooses to ponder over each one of them.

While we sip on our lattes,we offer her the menu to place her order. When we ask her if she wishes to have a dessert,she retorts,“Are you mocking me? I had to lose eight kilos in three months for the film. I cannot afford to eat all this,” she says,and goes on to tell us how she bagged the role. “Initially,Abbas was not convinced at all. It was John (Abraham) and producer Madhu Manterna’s idea to cast me in the film. I went through four screen tests before Abbas agreed to give me the role,” she says.

The promos have been generating a good response. Pakhi,however,maintains that it’s largely due to the film and Abraham. “But I don’t mind that,” she says stressing on the fact that the story revolves around Abraham’s character. “John’s character was inspired by how I am in real life — clumsy and messy. And Mishka,the character I play,is gleeful. It is a romantic dramatic experience,” says Pakhi,quite proud of her writing. However,once they began shooting,Tyrewala asked her to distance herself from the script and concentrate on acting. “There were a few minor changes made in the script but I made peace with it,” she reveals.

The Delhi girl wanted to be an actor since the age of three. Her mother didn’t want that to happen and restricted her from watching films. After her marriage to Tyrewala,she thought it would be even more difficult to pursue her dream. When she failed the audition for Meghna’s role in Jaane Tu Ya…Jaane Na she had decided to give up. “But sometimes you secretly don’t stop hoping. And things just fall into place someday,” she says philosophically.

Incidentally,Pakhi wrote her first script before she met Tyrewala. And it’s a sheer coincidence that she had approached John Abraham to act in the same. Things did not work out then. “When Abbas read it later,he saw some potential in my writing. And while he was shooting for Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na,I started working on the Jhootha Hi Sahi script so that he would have a film to work on,” says the actress-cum-scriptwriter.

Even though Pakhi had assisted Tyrewala earlier,shooting for Jhootha Hi Sahi was an experience in itself. During its shooting,she got to see a different side of Tyrewala. “Abbas is a very mellow person in real life. But on the sets,he wouldn’t concede to just anything,” she says with a surprised expression. There is no compromise for Tyrewala when it comes to his films and Pakhi knows that well. “When I submitted the script I thought I was Beethoven. But he made me write eight drafts. He told me,‘If you can’t rewrite,you have no business being a writer’.”

But ask Pakhi about what she likes more—acting or writing,and she says,“Both”.While she is yet to sign more films as an actor,she already has two scripts ready. “One is a relations-based subject and another a thriller.”