Controversies and criticism continue to rain in her backyard. But Pooja Bhatt is unfazed. Right from the beginning of her career, she has been deluged by controversies. She quotes singer-musician Bob Dylan to convey her disdain for mindless criticism. “He said, ‘Don’t criticise what you can’t understand’.” Nevertheless, Pooja understands profits.
“I made Jism 2 in 12 crore rupees. I sold it for 15.5 crores. I had a table profit of 2.5 crores, even before the film hit theatres, not counting the music sales, satellite, overseas or home video rights,” says the savvy entrepreneur. That the film actually grossed around 30 crores, given Sunny Leone’s porn power or Pooja’s marketing magic, is another story.
The actress, who redefined sexy as ‘bindaas’ and bohemian in the ’90s, very soon ducked the cosmetic for the cerebral, and since then has marched to her own beat. If her productions Tamanna and Zakhm went on to bag National Awards, Jism, amongst others, wooed the box-office. While her peers may slink into liposuction centres and botox salons, this 40-year-old has found her haven in a hamlet (Raigad, Maharashtra). Amidst nature and pets, she discovers life and stories. One of them is Jism 3, set to kick-start next March. That she is still sexy would be stating the obvious. Because as she says ‘sexy is about having a spirit’. And a free spirit she definitely is, as she continues in her own words...
‘We are uncomfortable about men being sexually vulnerable’
“Jism 2 had a feminine gaze, where the men were treated as sex symbols — a label usually reserved for women in our movies. The hypocrisy in our films is that it’s okay to have a woman gyrate around a man. She’s a plaything, an object of male fantasy. But having a man in a sexually vulnerable situation makes us uncomfortable. At best, we can see a man bare-chested and dancing with six-pack abs. John Abraham changed that to some extent in Jism. Earlier, Hindi film heroes lacked sexuality; they were little boys. But again, bold is not skin show, it’s your actions and courage or conviction to say things. Bold is how you lead your life on a daily basis and the value system you
pass on.”
‘I apologised to Randeep’
“Everyone assumes that men are comfortable doing sex scenes or being filmed in compromising positions. It’s tragic that we think only a woman goes through discomfort during such scenes. We never ask the men if they are comfortable kissing or being covered with a sheet with not much else underneath. In one of the Jism 2 scenes, Sunny had to unbutton Randeep Hooda’s jacket and kiss his chest and gently graze her hand on his nipple. She readily agreed. But Randeep said, ‘You mind asking me if I’m comfortable?’ Though it was in jest, I apologised to him. (Laughs) Also, when you’re shooting a love scene with a director like me, who’s barking instructions and there are other people in the room, it can hardly be erotic.”
‘I asked Sunny Leone to be naked emotionally’
“Sunny is comfortable with her body. For her, walking in her lingerie doesn’t seem odd. I wanted that easy body language. Sunny comes from a world where you are meant to be sexy and desirable. In pornography, you’re not meant to feel any emotion for that character, except carnal lust. But my film was about sensuality and emotions. Sunny’s and Randeep’s characters had to make love to each other out of their personal angst; two lonely people making love. For Sunny, it was a new situation. Initially, she would go in a mode that was cosmetic. I asked her to be naked emotionally, not just physically.”
‘Jism 2 will be mentioned in Sunny Leone’s obituary’
“Not many people would have attempted to humanise a porn star. It would’ve been easier to put her in five item songs and flaunt her as a plaything. It was important that when the audience walks out of the film they take along Izna (her character) and not Sunny Leone. But reviewers were hypocritical. When a reviewer writes: ‘We went for ‘sex’ but there wasn’t enough of it’, he reveals himself. So who’s deprived here? We gave Sunny an author-backed role. It was acceptance in the mainstream that she
wanted. This film will be mentioned in her obituary.”
‘We became sexual hypocrites after the British’
“Sexual hypocrisy seeped into Indian society after the British came to India. Before that, we were the land of the Kama Sutra. We had even built the Konark temple. There were no double standards about sex. It was the puritan attitude that crept into our culture later and made it a bad word. As my father (Mahesh Bhatt) jokes, ‘In Hindi films, bad people have sex and good people fall in love.’ Though we may have progressed in some areas, we have regressed in many.”
‘I use a whip if I have to’
“If I’m making a film, people will tear it apart, if I do not get the acting in place. As a director, it’s my job to bring everyone on the same page. I’d rather have my actors hate me and the world love them, than my actors love me and the world hate them. Filmmaking is a team effort but it has to be a fascist regime. There’s no room for good manners on a film set. In 44 days, I had to perhaps take four retakes, where Sunny had blown her dialogue because of a grammatical error, not because she had forgotten her lines. I’m interested in results, so I use a whip if I have to.”
‘I never had a great body’
“At one point, I was known as a sex symbol but I never had a great body. I’m five feet three inches tall and have always been on the heavier side. I was a combination of someone who was bindaas, who didn’t give a damn and who followed her heart. That was considered sexy. Women are aware that their body is probably their most powerful tool. Some exploit it; some don’t let that body become their calling card. I’m no longer paranoid about my weight. Eventually, being sexy is about spirited, that is irrepressible, bountiful and ageless. I’ve always exploited my spirit more than my body. Your body is going to fade, gravity is going to take over and your hair will turn grey. But there is a ‘me’ beyond the body.”
‘Life on my own terms’
“I live my life the way I want. So my films can’t be any different. I wore a swimsuit, when I felt like wearing one, but never thought of monetising it. The intention wasn’t to be provocative. Girls thought, here is someone who was speaking their language, who was exactly what they were but were scared to project. I was 23 when I made Tamanna. That gives you an indication of what my mind is all about. I chose Daddy as my debut. I wanted to be an actor first, stardom came later. Jism had the intense song Awarapan banjarapan, which even today brings me royalty, not Jaadu hai nasha hai. What sustains finally is the deep, not the frivolous.”
‘I’m living a dream’
“At 40, I am the same person I was at 19. I’m still a player. But I live in Mumbai for only three days in a week. I’ve created my haven in Kalote in Raigad with my eight dogs and 10 acres of land with waterfalls. It keeps me in touch with nature. I’m living my dream. I launch at least one person’s career with every film, be it that of an actor, DOP (director of photography), musician, singer or writer. I accomplish that in an almost war-like situation and then go back and put up my feet. Knowing you’ve not stabbed anyone’s back or played any games — for me that is success; not living a neurotic life in an ivory tower on a pile of money.”
‘I love my own company’
“Some of the greatest relationships I enjoy are those where we speak little to each other. People constantly, compulsively verbalise things to fill up empty spaces. Most people are spending time with people, who they’ve no interest in listening to. They are too terrified to listen to their own voices. But I love my own company. I thrive on my kind of aloneness. If that ‘you’ is not interesting enough, then you can have friends over, do alcohol and drugs and have sexual encounters; and then, what? The vacuum only gets bigger. I want to travel avidly and buy every book desired. I want to wake up every morning and do what I want.”
‘No one would want to watch me in a bikini’
I’d love to be on someone else’s set as an actor because it would be like going on a vacation. I wouldn’t have to worry about a single thing. I’d like to work with someone who would push me beyond my comfort zone and get me to play a woman my age. If I can make a film that is sensual, I can act in a film that is sensual. But I wouldn’t want to be shown emerging from the sea in a bikini because no one would want to see me like that. If a role matches my mirth, girth, age and spirit, I’m your woman.”
‘Most women look for a solution rather than a companion’
“My husband Munish Makhija (fondly called Munna and better known as Udham Singh) and I have been married for nine years and people don’t believe it! I’m at my wittiest best with Munna. He’s unfazed by anything or anyone. He has random people as his friends all across the world. We have built our own world in Kalote. We talk on varied subjects. We have differences, which often become provocative. But we are together because of those differences because we respect each other’s opinions. I never fell in love fearing what if he’s not there tomorrow. My heart could be broken or I might break his heart. It’s a part of life. You fight, you cry, you have good times and bad. But I’m the best ‘me’ with him. Most women look for a solution rather than a companion. They want the man to create a magical life for them. No, you still have your own battles to fight. He is there to hold your hand but he can’t take your problems away. Your father couldn’t do it, how can your husband? We have to endure our own lives. There was a time when I went through a whiny syndrome — ‘Why me?’ Now I have a ‘bring it on’ attitude because what you learn in crisis, you don’t learn in happiness.”
‘I’ve got eight dogs to mother’
“I am a mother already. I’ve got eight dogs and a whole lot of friends to mother. I love children. Munna and I have had many discussions on this. But at this point in time, kids don’t figure in our scheme of things. There are many things we want to do before we commit ourselves to a child. I don’t want my child to be brought up by nannies. I want to be there and experience every moment. I want to make films for the next few years because I’m really having fun. We certainly do look at having children, whether we have them or adopt them is something we will decide later.”
MY SISTERS
ALIA BHATT
“I was 17 when I did my first film Daddy. My wardrobe consisted of four T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a pair of moccasins. Alia has got a break with someone like Karan Johar. He doesn’t hold back when it comes to showering all that his actors need to shine. She is privileged. But pressures on her are far greater than they were on me. She has to have a bikini body. The only advice I gave her was to conserve her energy and block out noise because you have to focus on the shot at hand. When you are new, you are so overwhelmed that you spend your time on mindless chatter. So by the time you give your shot, you’re exhausted. I keep telling her that she is unique and shouldn’t become an assembly-line product.”
SHAHEEN BHATT
Shaheen is the most intelligent in the family. She is extremely talented. I hope someday she makes for a good filmmaker because she’s a fine writer. She’s got a sardonic sense of humour, something an average mind cannot possess. She enjoyed herself assisting Vikram Bhatt for Raaz 3.
