Q:How has Black changed your life?

I?m so happy I did it. People ask me why I did a supporting role. I?m baffled by the question. I?m just thankful to be part of such an exceptional film. So many people have connected with my character. It?s such an emotional experience! And Black is my first full-fledged mainstream film in Mumbai. Earlier, I hadn?t really made a permanent move to this city. I kept working out of Italy, the US and Canada?.quite a bit of theatre in New York. I came to Mumbai to do a play called 30 Days In September.

Q:Are you a misfit in Bollywood?

It doesn?t really matter where I come from. What matters is how I connect with audiences. You know, I did a whole bunch of ads as I waited for my career to take off in Bollywood. Doing those ads allowed me the financial freedom to say no to films that didn?t enthuse me.

Q:Was it also to stay visible?

There are various ways of doing films in this country. Many actors think, unless there?s a genuine reason to say ?no? to an offer you must do it. I go the other way. I say ?yes? only when there is a really good reason to do it. That limits my work. Still I won?t think of myself as a misfit. I?ve lived and fitted in all over the world. But I?m not from a film family, not from Mumbai?didn?t know anyone here. I didn?t know how to go about making a career in Bollywood. But I was determined to do what came naturally to me. My first few films had to be the kind that would get noticed.

Q:Hence Black?

No, actually I first signed Ram Gopal Varma?s My Wife?s Murder. They had seen and liked me in a wacky ad. It?s a great role.

Q:Before that?

Let?s not even go into Goutam Ghose?s Gudiya which I did years back when I was in Calcutta from Boston for my summer holidays. I never saw it as my proper debut. Then I went back to the US and did Seducing Maria. It got me lots of notice abroad, though not in India.

Q:How did you connect with Ram Gopal Varma?

You know when I came to Mumbai I was sure there were three directors I?d want to work with. Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Varma and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I?ve already worked with two of them, and that?s without really trying. I?m extremely shy. I couldn?t let it be known what I wanted to do with my career. My shyness can be misconstrued for arrogance. I know I?m in a business where I can?t afford to be shy.

Q:How did Black happen?

I was called to audition. And that was it. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is unquestionably a sheer brilliance. He?s such a visionary. He pays the greatest of attention to the most minor details. He?s a maestro. What makes him such a great director is that he knows how to get the best out of all his actors. At the same time he puts a lost of trust in them and lets them interpret characters in their own way. I haven?t had too much experience. But he seems to be an extraordinary filmmaker. I did a lot of research to play my role of jealous sister. I discovered that in a family with a disabled child the other children are neglected and emotionally bereft. Personally, I share a very comfortable relationship with my own sister. I?m very close to her. But I could understand my character?s emotional anxieties as a sibling. You cannot but feel somehow left out and unfulfilled . Every 16-year-old goes through the feeling of being a misfit.

Q:So when will you do a full masala film?

Mani Shankar?s Tango Charlie is a full-on masala film. I?m Ajay Devgan?s love interest. And I have a love song. I wish I had a dance number. I love to dance. But the film is about the guys. Besides Black and Tango Charlie I did two American films last year. One is called Over The Mountain directed by Joseph Castelo. I play an American of Islamic origins, drawn to her Muslim roots but horried by the fanaticism. The film is set post 9/11 and therefore very topical. The other American film is It?s A Match. This one is set in an Indian community in the suburbs of LA, directed by Ajmal Ahmed. All my roles are extremely different from one another.

Q:The roles you get abroad are of Asian characters?

Not necessarily. I?m asked to play Asian, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and Italian characters. But I?ve decided to stay put in Mumbai. I?ve worked in America. And I missed out on the best projects in India. I wanted to come back home to work since I had spent so much of my growing years outside. Right now I?m focussed on my career in Mumbai. I love Mumbai and its seaside feeling.

Q:Does it get lonely in Mumbai?

I love being on my own. Am I lonely? Not really. I?ve excellent bandhu bhagya. Very lucky with friends. My name means ?the one who brings joy. But my friends think that?s an anomaly. I tease them all the time.

Q:Were you comfortable working with Rani Mukherjee?

Absolutely. Rani was very warm and friendly. She?s an amazing actress. I learnt a lot from working with her and Sanjay. Rani?s mom would cook for us frequently. In fact, there was a whole gang of Bengalis on the sets. Besides Rani and me, there was the costume designer Sabyasachi. Mr Bachchan is practically half-Bengali and Sanjay Bhansali is very clued into Bengali culture.

Q:So how Bengali are you?

As Bengali as it gets! Seriously, I never know what I am! I?ve traveled since my childhood. So I do have a global percepective. But I?m very Bengali. I spent my adolescence in ##Shanti Niketan, singing my Rabindrasangeet, reciting Tagore, learning Manipuri dance, the works.

Q:What does your father Prof Amartya Sen think of your Bollywood aspirations?

Both my parents are celebrities in their own right. If my dad is a Nobel laureate my mom is a professor and writer and a Padmashri winner. So I?m not new to attention. My time is divided among India, England and America. This Christmas all of us collected together in Calcutta in ##Shanti Niketan with my grandmother. Then recently my mother was in Hyderabad for a conference while I was dubbing for Tango Charlie. So we keep running into each other. Now I?m off to New York for another commitment.

?There?s a maternal instinct in every woman?

Watching her play Ayesha Kapoor?s ravaged mother in Sanjay Leela Bhansali?s Black you wonder where the petite and powerful Shernaz Patel had been hiding herself all these years.

?Nowhere!? she laughs. ?I just didn?t pursue cinema. I?ve been in theatre for a long time. I can?t believe the kind of recognition that?s come my way after Black.?

Shernaz was chosen by the casting director on the basis of her work in theatre and also the ad she did for Johnson & Johnson. ?That ad was on for years and years. So even though I?ve done just one ad, people believe it?s many. Then I auditioned for Sanjay, and that was it!?

Years ago in the 80s Shernaz was seen in soaps like Khandaan and Naqaab on National television and also in Mahesh Bhatt?s Janam opposite Kumar Gaurav. ?That was so long ago. Janam was the first telefilm on National television. So technically I had never seen myself on the big screen before Black. I belong to a theatre family. I was heavily into theatre, and happy with it. And frankly, I didn?t fit into the kind of cinema that was being made in the 80s and 90s. It?s only now that the whole concept of crossover cinema has caught on,? chuckles Shernaz. ?I guess I can fit in better now. The screen mom doesn?t have to make gaajar ka halwa. She can now make cakes if she wants.?

She says she had some trouble getting into the discipline of cinema as opposed to theatre. ?It took me a few days to get used to basic rules of being on camera. At the end of it I was full of praise for a film crew. The conditions that they work under! We were dressed in woollens in a sultry studio pretending it was snowing outside. It requires a lot of concentration to be truthful on camera. Sanjay demands and requires full attention. Otherwise, the discipline between the two media isn?t that different. Nowadays theatre, too, is performed before intimate audiences. That transitional pang doesn?t exist any more.?

Shernaz isn?t really old enough to play Hrithik Roshan?s mom. ?God forbid! The child in Black was just right for me...and Black was a blessing. I never thought I was doing anything but what the role required.

?The working atmosphere on Sanjay?s set was such that an actor had to give the best. He demands the best from his entire cast and crew. I did my very best. Sanjay is a brilliant director.?

Shernaz conveys the mother?s agony in Black so well that it comes as a surprise to know she?s single in real life. ?But there?s a maternal instinct in every woman. I don?t think an actress needs to be a mother to react to a little girl who?s so in need of a mother?s care. Besides, Sanjay made us watch a whole lot footage pertaining to the deaf and blind. For any mother to cope with such tragedy, for a mother to realise that such a child comes from her is such a complex emotion to deal with. My part was beautifully written. And beautifully shot. I may not have much to say. But I?ve my space. I owe it all to Sanjay. There aren?t any words to describe his brilliance.?

Shernaz lights up at the mention of her costars. ?Ayesha and I clicked immediately. It wasn?t hard playing her mother at all. We got along like a house on fire. It was very painful to say goodbye to her at the end of the shooting. As for Amitji?of course, I?m completely in awe of him. I was shivering through every shot during my first few days. But I had to overcome that. Finally, we had to portray our characters. And he was of immense help in getting me relaxed. He never brought his super-persona on the sets. He was Debraj from the word go. He likes to rehearse. And I come from theatre where rehearsal is sacrosanct. I had to forget I was acting with the superstar of India to be able to play my character. And Amitji helped me with that. Really, the atmosphere on the sets was amazingly conducive to creativity.?

Will Black be a new janam for Shernaz, ?I sure hope so. If it happens I?m blessed. If it doesn?t happen I?ll move on. Success has a lot to do with luck. I?ll just let my work speak for itself. If proper work comes my way I?d gladly like to do it.