The girl on the poster who greets me as I enter a production office in Mumbai wears a look of abject terror. Maya is haunted by her dead husband, who has returned to claim their daughter, Nia. And Maya, not surprisingly, is terrified.

The expertly made-up flesh-and-blood woman waiting for me in the cabin she has hijacked from her National Award winning producer Abhishek Pathak exudes confidence. But she admits to being afraid of everything that’s unreal and inexplicable.

When Bipasha Basu was growing up, she could sleep only when cuddled up against her elder sister. If didi moved even an inch, she would bawl. Even today, she pleads with her hairdresser or manager to bunk out on the sofa in her hotel suite. “I’m a fattu — a scaredy-cat,” she confesses.

That’s a bit startling, for the actress is known for ably riding Bollywood’s horror wave. Her new film Aatma (where she plays Maya) was released on Friday. Her 2002 film Raaz was steeped in horror, as was Raaz 3 — which she says she watched with her hands clapped over her eyes. During the intermission, she came out in tears.

“Shanaya, my character, was completely black, unredeemed by any justifications for her actions. She was scarier than any ghost and I hated seeing myself as this dark avatar,” she says. “Since I didn’t know anyone so evil, I pushed myself and broke down constantly. I couldn’t sleep, didn’t talk to anyone on the sets when usually I can’t stop chattering,” she recalls.

The sleepless nights are back. She admits she’d planned to turn down Aatma, but was overwhelmed by the narration. “Maybe subconsciously these films are a way of facing up to deep-rooted phobias. My parents must have really scared me as a child,” she jokes. “Consciously, I’m just a greedy actress unable to refuse a fantastic offer.”

The 34-year-old actress who aspires to be India’s Scream Queen is now gearing up to shoot a one-of-its-kind creature film even though as a child she had nightmares about King Kong falling in love with her and kidnapping her. But then that’s Bipasha Basu, who in her 12-year career has never played by the rules.

She was born in Delhi and studied at the Apeejay School. Her parents returned to Calcutta when she was eight. A mischievous tomboy nicknamed Lady Goonda by those who knew her, she caught the eye of supermodel Mehr Jesia, who suggested she try modelling. In 1996, Bipasha surprised everyone by winning the Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest and the Ford Models Supermodel of the World contest.

She was flown out to New York by Ford, launched as a model at 17 and had protestors outside her doors when she appeared in a controversial Calida commercial cavorting in her underwear with her then boyfriend Dino Morea. Films were the logical step up.

Actor Vinod Khanna, one of the judges at the Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest, offered to launch her opposite his son Akshaye in Himalay Putra. She told him she was too young for movies. Later, actress Jaya Bachchan coaxed her to give the nod to J.P. Dutta’s Aakhri Mughal opposite her son Abhishek, then still to make his mark. The film didn’t take off.

Then, in 2001, Basu shocked everyone with an unconventional debut in Abbas-Mustan’s Ajnabee, a watered down version of the American film Consenting Adults on the taboo topic of wife swapping. The negative role fetched her an award for the best debut actress of the year.

Her roles have always raised eyebrows. In Raaz, she’s haunted by her husband’s dead lover. In Jism (2003), she seduces an alcoholic lawyer and plots with him to kill her millionaire husband. The film got her a nomination for the best villain award, as did her role (of an actress seeking to destroy the life and career of a much younger rival with black magic) in the 2012 film Raaz.

“Which other actress would chance her career on a cold-hearted adulteress, and 10 years later, return as an actress on the decline practising black magic on a younger rival,” she asks, pointing out that whenever she has gone against the tide, the gamble has paid off. “But I’m not even felicitated for taking such risks.”

Suparn Varma, the director of Aatma, who has just wandered in, assures her that his film will win her lots of prize moments. She threatens murder, and he flees. Scowling at his disappearing back, she says awards have lost their lustre because only male actors are found worthy of the best villain’s trophy.

“If an award comes along, that’s good. If it doesn’t, even better,” she shrugs. “What matters is that the film should make money. Raaz 3 grossed Rs 95 crore which given its budget makes it a bigger hit than a Rs 70-crore film earning Rs 100 crore.”

Listening to her rattle off figures reminds me of the businesswoman in Corporate (2006). Basu maintains that like a typical Cancerian, she is organised and focused on finance. “I even started studying chartered accountancy, but it was boring. I’d been a science student — biology, physics and maths were my subjects. Economics was dull. Thank God, modelling beckoned,” she dimples.

The business study came in handy in Corporate, which got her a new audience. “Uncles and aunts loved me in the film. Uncle Yash Chopra called me late one night to say he’d enjoyed the film because of the way I’d played my role,” she reminisces.

Another actress, perhaps, would have cashed in and projected herself as B-town’s Woman of Substance. Basu continued to play hooky, agreeing to do an item number in Omkara (2006). More than the film, it’s the song Bidi jalaile... that’s remembered today, she argues. After enacting the role of a bar dancer in No Entry (2005) helped her overcome her mind block about Bollywood dancing, she enjoyed the challenge of playing a ditzy beach bum in Dhoom 2 in 2006, she adds.

“Wearing a bikini for the first time on screen made me fit. I looked good!” she exults.

“I’m a Bengali with a sweet tooth who loves her rice,” she says about the intense six-week workout she had to later undergo to get into a red bikini for Players (2012). “During those six weeks I did not eat a single mishti and the efforts showed. “It wasn’t only gymming, I was on a high-protein diet that cut out carbs. In my dictionary fit doesn’t mean pencil thin but being happy with your self-image. Love yourself,” she says.

She now plans to share her bikini body secrets with curvy desi girls in her third fitness DVD. Her exercise videos have got her a new fan following. I know that — my 14-year-old daughter lost all her puppy fat after discovering the 20-minute workout. She is now trying to convince me to smuggle her into a show of the A-rated Aatma, arguing it stars a five-year-old.

The five-year-old — Maya’s baby in the film — is a young lady called Doyel Dhawan. Basu says that spending 10 hours a day with Doyel cuddled in her lap helped her discover her strong maternal instincts. “I’ll make a great mom some day,” she says.

For now she’s happy playing mom while trying to prove to the film frat that she’s here for the grind. “People who know me insist I’m not cut out for showbiz and I wasn’t serious about acting earlier. But 12 years down the road, I’m glad I’m still around, accepted by the industry and appreciated by the audience despite not living up to the image of a conventional Bollywood heroine,” she asserts.

Three or four years ago, though, she had lost interest in cinema for a while. “The priorities changed; I was wrapping up,” she admits, referring to her relationship with actor John Abraham. They started dating during Jism, but the relationship ended in early 2011.

Basu agrees letting her heart rule her head was a big mistake. “I pulled back professionally when things were bright. Today I tell every girl never to depend on anyone, but focus on who you are and what you want,” she says.

The actress feels that Rituparno Ghosh’s Shob Charitro Kalpanik — a 2009 film, in which she starred, about a woman finding herself — reflects her journey. “I’ve grown into a more responsible person,” she asserts. “Happiness is my goal today and I’ll do everything to reach it.”

I step out, run into Maya again and know that her fear is for real. I’ve just met her emotionally vulnerable alter ego who admits it is easier to ramble and fear for her daughter on the sets than replicate the emotions in a dubbing theatre later.

Bipasha Basu is no actress — she lives her roles.