(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Bipasha Basu and Imran Abbas tell us why their new film Creature 3D is no ordinary Bollywood horror tale.When Bipasha Basu was narrated the script of her first horror film Raaz in 2002 she got so scared that the chair she was sitting on flipped back and she fell down. Twelve years down the line she is being given titles like ‘Scream Queen’ and ‘Goddess of Fear’. She has acted in several films in the horror and supernatural genre like Raaz Raaz 3 Aatma Darna Zaroori Hai Rakht and will next be seen in Vikram Bhatt’s Creature 3D that releases in the UAE this weekend. The actress is happy with these tags. “I was being called ‘Scream Queen’ before and I screamed so much in my dubbing that I lost my voice and I was like ‘I am not going to be called that anymore I do not like it.’ I like this new tag ‘Goddess of Fear’. I am not a very brave person in reality I get scared of everything so being called ‘Goddess of Fear’ is quite ironic. But I am kind of enjoying it. These tags are fun because no other actor gets to be that.”
NUMBERS OVER ACCOLADES
The Bengali beauty believes that she is not part of the herd when it comes to Bollywood and is happy to be part of horror genre even though this genre is often snubbed by mainstream cinema. “I would say that there is always criticism everybody has an opinion. This is a free world. Yes there is snobbery for this genre even in Hollywood yet it is a multi-million dollar business. This is India’s first creature feature film. We are excited because everybody kind of looks down upon the special effects done in India which is absolutely absurd because a lot of back end work of the west is done in India. I would say that in our business we have to keep a strong storyline emotions and sentiments within the horror genre. Anyone who says that you do not need to act in horror films is lying but yes we will definitely not get the accolades which a drama film would in Bollywood. We will not. We might get the numbers though and I am quite happy with the numbers.”
Bipasha believes that the horror genre in India is in the nascent stage and she is happy to be a pioneer in this area. “We have not exploited the horror genre at all in our Hindi film business. It used to be a B-C grade genre for the longest time. It is my fourteenth year in the business and I am you know not relying on any heroes. I have always made choices and stuck by them and it has worked for me. I have seen Anaconda and always thought that Jennifer Lopez looked so cool I know it got bad ratings. I always wanted to be a part of a creature feature and who better than Vikram Bhatt because he is very technically savvy in this area. He got 3D into our business and he uses it not only technically he uses it emotionally. There are certain scenes where he creates depth and loneliness using 3D as a tool which not many directors can do in our country. I am hoping to get more respect.”
But her acting in horror films has not made her immune to fear in the real life. “Everything scares me because I am not so brave; Lizards ghosts darkness. I am the worst person to see a horror film because I am always hiding behind my sister and asking what is happening. My sister hates me because she is a horror movie fan. I will just be looking at her face and whenever there is a scary part I will ask her what is happening.”
GOING INTERNATIONAL
Bipasha also did an independent international film that is yet to see the light of the day “I did an independent film that got stuck in the making. It is called The Lovers. It is one of the finest films that I have ever done. Roland Joffe is the director and I star opposite Josh Hartnett. It is a beautiful film. It’s an 18th century period love story. It is set in two time zones and I play a warrior. It is my best work till date and I am looking forward to that being released. It was called Singularity earlier and now it is called The Lovers because it is about two lovers.”
The actress revealed to us that she had a few more international opportunities a while back but she had to let go of them due to various reasons. “If I have to do that kind of international work there were various opportunities at that time which because of my foolishness I have not taken - other things were more important to me at that time in my life. To take a leap of faith and take a break of six months and staying in LA it was too much for me. Right now I am comfortable in my zone here. Yes if sitting in India I have to audition I do not mind but to travel and just go and be there as every single agent wanted me to go and stay there for at least six months is a big deal for me.”
LOVE TALES
The actress is in a steady relationship with her beau Harman Baweja and she told us what being in a relationship means to her. “It’s got its own fun and a flip side too. I like a man with the sense of humour I need to laugh and if you cannot make me laugh then I am bored. I am quite a challenge to be with because I am crazy so the person has to be very patient and intelligent. He needs to be more intelligent than me because I am not so intelligent and I love intelligent people who I can learn something from.”
Once the movie releases the actress will immediately start shooting for her next film called Alone in the backwaters of Kerala. She is looking forward to some peaceful time after this hectic promotion schedule.artikhaleejtimes.com Imran Abbas on his Bollywood debut:
“I have been working in Pakistan for the last ten years. When it comes to actors from Pakistan Bollywood is the place for us to be in. I think it is an accepted fact that Bollywood has gone miles ahead from the Pakistani film industry. I do not feel any apprehension in saying that. When Vikram Bhatt offered me this role. I was extremely excited because I knew that the whole combination is perfect. This is not a run of the mill kind of a film. This is something that is happening for the first time in India. Vikram is the master of this genre. I was very excited to work with Bipasha because in Pakistan no other actor has worked with an A-lister Bollywood actress. Being a newcomer it is an honour for me to work opposite her.
Bipasha is so seasoned; she does not care about anything and does her work in her own way. She does not care who is opposite her she just believes in her character and that’s it.” Bipasha on changing times for actresses:
2014 saw a big chunk of women-focused films like Highway Dedh Ishqiya Mardaani Mary Kom Bobby Jasoos Gulaab Gang and others where the heroines delivered big numbers and won hearts too but Bipasha feels that the best phase for an actress is still a faraway dream.
“Honestly it is changing very slowly for the actresses. When I started off fourteen years back there was a discussion that this is the great time for actress because now there is no stereotype you can playing the negative role and still are an A-lister actress. It happened then. It happens every year with two-three films doing well which are driven by women but honestly there is no specific change. Me as an actress I feel it. I do not want to do too much work because it is exhausting. I made the money. I am famous. I am an entrepreneur on the side. It is important that I do things that excite me but it is a limiting business for females. There are very few films that do well and they are good films that is why they do well but still the infrastructure put behind a film which is being led by a female is way less than what a hero would get. So that kind of imbalance does exist.”
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