A few days from now you have ‘Delhii Heights’ coming up.

The film has shaped up quite well and I am happy to be associated with it. The film is special since it has good producers at the helm who are looking at making a foray into Hindi cinema after a successful and long running stint in movies down south.

Had you heard about debutant director Anand Kumar?

Yes, he has been a noted ad film maker and has quite a decent background. The way he shot the film was interesting too as he kept the narrative crisp and ensured that the film maintains a feel good approach throughout.

So no drama or unnecessary emotions in the film?

Drama hai, lekin small dose mein. Aisa nahi ki sab overboard chala jaaye! Moments like these are interspersed in ‘Delhii Heights’ which make it a sugar-n-sweet experience to watch. You would see that it is quite a frothy entertainer.

The promos do indicate that, though don’t you feel the promotion should be more intense.

That’s right, and I am informed that over the period of time, the promotion would intensify too. What you call as “bombarding the satellite channels with promos” is something that you should see soon [laughs]! See, these producers are here to mark and that has been something which is visible even during the shooting of the film.

And why do you say that?

Because never once did you see them cutting costs on the film’s production. Even though the film is set in Delhi and we shot there for maximum duration, there is a scene where I am required to be in Chennai. So, just for that one scene we packed off to Chennai and shot there. Moreover, the entire crew is from Chennai but they all were stationed in Delhi for the entire shoot. In between there was a song that was required to be shot in Mumbai. We could have still done it in Delhi and camouflaged it as Mumbai but the producers insisted that to give an authentic feel to the proceedings, we should not compromise. So there we were in Mumbai shooting the song.

Any other place where the film has been shot?

There is a nice love song shot in Goa. Titled ‘Kitni Der Tak’, it is a naughty number between this newly wed couple played by Neha and me who are off on a honeymoon. Rabbi Shergill has given a great tune for this song in addition to the other numbers in the album.

What makes shooting in Delhi different from other films that have been shot in the capital?

If you look at majority of films that have been shot in Delhi earlier, either they are shot in old Delhi or just take you though some historical places around the city. In ‘Delhii Heights’, we have explored an urban Delhi, a modern day city, where people reside in high rise apartments and live an upper middle class lifestyle.

So what do you do in the film?

I play Abi who is married to Suhana [Neha Dhupia]. We have just recently tied the knot and are successful in our professional lives. We have happy times together, except for one seemingly minor sounding problem – we work for rival companies. Hence while we have a healthy marital relationship, the fact that we cross our ways professionally threatens to impact our personal life too. How we face the challenge and try to overcome this issue in life forms the essence of our story.

What kind of release would the film see?

‘Delhii Heights’ is an urban film and hence majority of prints would be catering to multiplex audience. Rest assured we are looking at a wide extensive release. Earlier we were planning to come on March 02 but with number of films already in the fray on that Friday, we have postponed the release to March 09.

What’s the essence of ‘Red’?

A lot. See, if you have to put an emotion into color chances are high that most would say it pertains to red. You could be angry or you could be in a passionate mood, the color that would describe it best would be red. In fact even surveys prove that red what comes at the top of the list of asked when one is asked about his/her favorite color. Also my personal favorite is red as it depicts the feeling of love.

You just mentioned ‘survey’. Have you also done your own bit of research on it?

You are right. The other day I was speaking to a 19 year old female cousin of mine in Delhi and asked her what did she associate most of her emotions with and to my amazement she said ‘red’. For her, this was what love and passion was all about. But then why just love? I even asked my brother who is army and posted in J&K that what did he feel when he killed the first terrorist and the answer was, as you would have guess rightly by now, ‘red’. So you know, it may all sound so crazy, but then this is reality.

So how does your character turn ‘red’ in RED?

I play the character of a young woman who has a dark side to her. She is passionate, she is angry about something, she has a lot of love in her and last but not the least, there are some hidden secrets about her that bring a little mystery to her persona. Now all of this combined together made me believe that this character was just me, the real me! I said to myself that this is a kind of serious yet intense role that I want to play because though I love comedy, enjoy dancing around and play a typical Bollywood heroine-heroine kind of role, it’s a character like this in RED that makes me gives lot more of myself. This is what I would call the MOST ME!

One hears you were quite impressed with your director Vikram Bhatt.

If you meet him, you would find that he is such a great analyst about human emotions, what we do in life and especially faces. He would look at your face and tell you exactly what you are thinking.

Did it ever happen with you?

Of course it did. Once I was on the sets and he out of nowhere he asked me, “Celina, are you shy?” Now it was truly shocking because with someone like me who comes from Miss India/Miss Universe background and has been known for her glamorous image, no one associates a trait of shyness. But at that time, he was bang on since I was actually quite shy about something. So despite an entire confident persona I carry, he could just read my face and tell me exactly what I was thinking.

Now moving away from RED a little. You have enjoyed a hat trick of comedy successes in recent times – NO ENTRY, TOM DICK AND HARRY and APNA SAPNA MONEY MONEY. Does that make you aspire to be the next comedy queen?

[Laughs] Well, the ultimate would be to do the kind of work and scale the heights as Sridevi. I just don’t want to do good comedy, I want to do much more and be called as a good actor. Somehow after watching me holding a violin in the middle of water in ‘Janasheen’, people didn’t take me too seriously.

Are you hurt?

I was, though now I am relatively at peace with myself. See, anyways an actor’s job is thankless. You can please some but still there could be 10000 people who are against you. For me to survive in this industry itself has been so tough. There has been no backing, no Godfathers to support me. I have made me strictly on my own without being associated with any camps or people who could peg me for awards. I am a girl from a simple army background who is out here to make a career.

So what should one expect from RED while venturing into a theater?

Expect a kind of cinema that breaks away from “typecast Bollywood”! There is a newer and a younger approach to shooting this film and that’s something which is visible in all departments whether it is cinematography, sound, settings, pace etc. This is a new attempt but it is not parallel cinema. This is serious cinema but very commercial in the end. You are sure to get your money’s worth after you come out of watching the film.

Madhur, are you happy with the film’s response?

Of course yes! For me ‘Traffic Signal’ is a SUPER HIT!

Superhit? Has it really done that kind of box office business?

Why do we have to always classify the film as a hot or a flop only based on the kind of money it earns? I would rather look at it differently. For a film like ‘Traffic Signal’, recovering the cost itself is a matter of celebration and if it starts earning profits from there on, it is nothing short of being superhit.

But why do you say that?

Arrey yaar, look at the way ‘Traffic Signal’ was conceptualized and conceived. It was meant to be a star-less film and the way it has performed in spite of relative new names is an achievement in itself. Kunal Khemu was like just one-film old as a leading hero while Neetu Chandra had only a ‘Garam Masala’ behind her. Rest were all part of an ensemble cast and to pull off a movie like this and then earn profits is remarkable, isn’t it?

Your film wasn’t even backed by songs.

That’s right. I have always maintained that ‘Traffic Signal’ didn’t have a single hit song. They were all mediocre and didn’t quite make people venture into the theatres just for them. This is why I say that it was brand Madhur Bhandarkar that worked most for the film.

The film has done bumper business in Mumbai with Delhi doing well too. Down South the film has been accepted in a big way, especially Chennai, and it is only CP Berar territory where the film has underperformed. There were no stars, no songs and to add to it the subject was unusual and unexplored. How much further experimental can one get while still being in the realms of commercial cinema?

But doesn’t the thought cross your mind now to go all out in a big way?

The day I want I can do that, and mind it even my equity will also go higher up. Even today I get paid well even though my films are small and tomorrow when I make a film with a big starcast and wider canvas, I can see my direction fee go up by a few crores. But then for all this, you need a script that necessitates such a setup.

But your next ‘Fashion’ doesn’t sound big enough?

You never know, ‘Fashion’ may or may not be my next film after all. It could be a big film coming up. Wait and watch.