Bipasha Basu in Raaz 3

Ten years after Raaz, Bipasha Basu returns to the horror franchise with Raaz 3. t2 caught up with the Ballygunge bombshell to chat about the September 7 release.

Unlike Raaz, you play a negative character in Raaz 3…

I don’t see the character as negative because she is the protagonist, you know. She’s just a dark character. It’s a story being told through the eyes of this person who has a very normal need that every human has… the need to be recognised… the need to be successful. Nobody wants to lose what they have achieved… everyone wants to hold on to their fame. My character is an actress who is petrified about losing her fame and of sinking into anonymity. She’s basically a prisoner of fame, as Mahesh Bhatt aptly puts it. When she realises that fame is slowly but surely ebbing away, she uses wrong means to hold on to it.

Do you see that kind of insecurity around you every day in your business?

I am sure (it happens to) all of us, except that it is at different levels in different people. We don’t accept it openly. We get so much love and adulation in this business and then one day, the same business is harsh enough to pull you down and finish you off. It’s very scary… an actor’s life is like a wave, there are constant ups and downs. It’s tough being here. That’s why you will see that so many people in this business are overtly religious and very superstitious. All this comes out of vulnerability and the fragile nature of the business.

There is talk that your character is based on Ameesha Patel’s personal and professional life.

No… I haven’t been told about it. I don’t think so (pauses)….

How did you prepare to play Shanaya?

I really didn’t do anything. I went on set and was so lost that I just put up my hands and said: ‘I don’t know how to play her’. I remember Bhatt saab telling me: ‘Shout as if you are shouting at your driver’. And I was like: ‘I have never shouted at my driver or at anyone else for that matter!’ I had no reference to Shanaya… when I signed the film, I realised that I did not even have 10 per cent of her in me, but I think I pushed myself to that level in this film that at times I was afraid of Shanaya! She’s so dark that she unnerved me. There is one particular scene where at the end of it, I just burst out crying. I remember I sat on that carpet and kept on crying, and when I saw the shot on the monitor, I just held Vikram (Bhatt, the director) and cried for the next 20 minutes!

How was it getting back with the Bhatts?

We have always been touch and they have always offered me films. My only request to them has always been that they needed to give me something that was way more challenging than Raaz. I wanted to play a woman that I haven’t played before. The Bhatts are very good with writing strong roles for women and they have given me some great films in the past. With Vishesh Films, I never feel like it’s a professional setup… it’s always been a personal space for me.

Vikram and I have been buddies for a long time. I remember during the days of Raaz, he used to tell me stuff like: ‘Get serious about your career. Stop being this hippie girl… you are so talented, you just need to focus’. Nothing really has changed between us in all these years. We still laugh like mad people on set. The only thing that’s changed is that he had salt-and-pepper hair then and now he’s all grey. Maybe it’s all his experience that’s showing on his head (laughs).

Vikram Bhatt’s recent films have all been in the horror genre. How have you seen him evolve as a maker of horror films from Raaz to Raaz 3?

He’s extremely talented. Not only does he have the emotional grasp, he’s also grown a lot technically, especially in the 3D space (Vikram’s last two films Haunted and Dangerous Ishhq were in 3D). He just knows how to scare people and he is very, very good at it! (Laughs) I think it’s a killer combination when you have a great story and good characters and you can scare the audience too. That’s the way it has come together so beautifully in Raaz 3.

How was it working with Emraan Hashmi?

Extremely effortless. I don’t why people discuss his kissing so much because there’s so much more to him. I am sure he’s good at kissing (laughs), but he’s also a very good actor. Sometimes there are lines that are given to us actors that just border on the ridiculous, but Emraan delivers them so convincingly that you have to believe what he’s saying.

Did you have the mandatory kissing scene that is a staple of all Emraan Hashmi films?

No, it was a mandatory smooching-the-hell-out-of-each-other scene! (Laughs out loud) It was very embarrassing… I was so shy. I had whined so much for a small kiss in Jodi Breakers and then I had to do this, over and over. I had no choice, I just surrendered. I put my hands up and just did what I was told. The one upside is that he’s a good kisser! (Laughs)

After Raaz 3, you have moved on to Aatma (co-starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and directed by Suparn Verma). What’s with this sudden love for horror?

I think I am gunning for the title of ‘Scream Queen’ (an actress who becomes predominantly associated with horror films)! But honestly, I am very scared of horror films, even of the dark. The logic of doing one horror film after the other is, I think, that I am facing my fears. I want to watch them and I sit and watch them, but most of the time I am looking not at the screen, but at the reactions of the person who is sitting next to me (laughs). I shut my eyes and ears and jump and scream the loudest, even without watching most of the film myself! But both Raaz 3 and Aatma are completely different films in theme and treatment, apart from the fact that they both belong to the supernatural genre.

So what’s the scariest film you have watched?

The Ring… oh my god, do you remember that little girl who comes out of the (TV) screen? I couldn’t sleep for many nights after that and I couldn’t even watch TV, especially because I have a huge TV at home!

What’s the status of your Hollywood film Singularity?

Last month, I was in London shooting for it and we are finally done with it. My director (Roland Joffe) will be in India next month and we have a bit of the dubbing left. Once that’s done, we will have the plans in place for release. But it definitely won’t be before January or February next year.

The last time we spoke you had said that you might work on a Bengali film soon…

Oh, not yet! But I have a friend now, a director friend, Srijit (Mukherji) whose work I really like. I loved 22shey Srabon and Autograph and he will kill me because I still haven’t seen Hemlock Society. He’s extremely talented. I happened to meet him recently and I am going to badger him to make a film for me.