‘Thankfully, my hindi is good’

How comfortable are you with Hindi?
Quite. Though I was born and brought up in Kerala, I attended a school where I was exposed to Hindi. Many of my teachers were north Indians, so since childhood, I have been speaking the language. Ghajini was shot in sync sound, and thankfully my Hindi was good, I had no problems. 

A woman co-star of an Aamir starrer isn’t left with much to do in the film. What is your take on that?
But as Aamir’s heroine, I am sure I will get fabulous exposure both nationally and internationally. 

There were reports that before filming a romantic scene, Aamir went on long walks with you.
(Cuts in) I don’t know from where such reports originate. I was comfortable doing all types of scenes with him. 

Weren’t you upset with him for not letting you speak to the media?
That’s absolutely untrue. I was completely shocked when I read this report.   

Didn’t you want to clarify your stance then?
As I said, initially I was surprised. After that I laughed it off.  

So, how was it working with the perfectionist Aamir?
Oh, he’s a very supportive and encouraging co-star. The media calls him a perfectionist in the negative sense, but I find him absolutely dedicated, passionate and focused on his work. At the same time, he is an extremely down-to-earth person without any airs about himself. He lets the director be the captain of the ship.  

Having been part of the Tamil version of the film, what difference do you find between the two lead actors?
Both of them have brought their own techniques to the role. Surya has portrayed it in a different way. However, I think we should wait for the film to release before discussing this further. 

Did you feel a sense of deja vu while doing the same role the second time?
Character-wise, there isn’t anything different between the two. In both the versions, my name is Kalpana, a girl from a lower-middle class family. She is a struggler in an ad firm, one of the model types who wants to make it big in the ad industry. Though the character is the same, shooting for the film was a new experience because we have made a few changes in the climax, tweaked it a bit and added new action scenes. Also, except for the director, the entire technical crew was new for me. 

Kalpana doesn’t seem glamorous…
No, she is not at all glamorous. A girl-next-door type, she is completely a non-Bollywood kind of a heroine. But the role is so good that I didn’t think twice about doing it. 

You star in London Dreams opposite Salman Khan. What would you say is the difference between the two Khans?
On the contrary, I find a lot of similarities between the two. Both of them are cool to work with, only Salman is more spontaneous. Even Ajay Devgan is a pucca professional. He is quite a prankster and the three of us had a great time. In fact, it was one of my best outdoor shoots.  

Are you doing any south films or are you looking at establishing yourself in Bollywood first?
I would like to do films that excite me. Language is not a barrier. Right now, I haven’t signed any films in the south though. My immediate commitment is London Dreams, for which we will be shooting in Mumbai. A major portion of the film has already been shot and only a few scenes and songs remain.