Meera with Neena Gupta in Nazar, and (left) with Ashmit Patel and Koel Purie in the filmMeera and Ashmit in Nazar

nWhen did the directing bug first bite you?

Quite some years ago ? at least eight years. My acting and production assignments on television kept me busy. It was only around four years back that I really got serious and decided to do something about it. In fact, I was writing another script when Vishesh Films offered me Nazar.

nWhat drew you to direct Nazar?

I thought it had all the ingredients for a good debut in commercial Bollywood movies. It is a thriller with a cutting-edge feel. I found the subject very challenging for a woman to tackle. It was such a kick-ass script that I wanted to start immediately.

nWhat is Nazar all about?

Nazar is about a girl singer-dancer, played by Meera, who is the Indian version of Britney Spears. She comes across a strange encounter which completely changes her life. She can?t figure out the proceedings and feels that she is losing her mind. She tries to co-relate the serial killings of bar-girls happening in and around the city. Ashmit Patel plays the cop who?s investigating the case and so there?s a romantic angle between the two. Koel Purie plays another cop and Aly Khan also has an important role in the film.

nAny regrets of the now-famous kiss being deleted from the film?

I don?t even know who first started this huge hue and cry. The Indian censors had said that we could keep the kiss. We should have left it to the Pakistani censor board to take their call. But now, I guess, the issue is bigger than me or my stand. Also, the kiss is not really that important to the script. But since I had shot it, they should have understood my feelings. It?s not about the kiss but the principle behind it. At the end of the day, I didn?t have the final say.

nHow did you rope in Meera?

Mahesh Bhatt met her in Pakistan. He was very impressed with her and immediately signed her on to act in one of his productions. Once she was cast, we found a Pakistani co-producer (Sevy Ali). So one thing followed the other.

nWhat was it like donning the director?s cap?

In the beginning, I was very excited, yet nervous. Once on the sets, I felt so comfortable, not at all stressful. Everyone would be asking me: ?How come you are so cool?? But I was really very comfortable calling the shots ? wasn?t intimidated at all. The idea of directing was more intimidating. Yes, there were moments of confusion but that?s part of the process. I hope I can have a long innings as a director.

nDid Meera come on the sets with the baggage from a different school of acting?

She was amazing. She has this very rare, powerful on-screen presence ? that extra something which a lot of American actresses used to have. A blend of glamour, sensuality and flamboyance.

nAnd Ashmit?

He is very good-looking and very sensitive as an actor. He is this new-age man, very atypical. He?s helped lend the film a different flavour. His character is very angst-ridden, someone who?s gone through a lot of pain.

nA lot of women directors are suddenly coming to the fore. Is the man-woman divide in film-making getting blurred?

I myself have worked with quite a few women directors. My first film was with Aparna Sen ? 36 Chowringhee Lane. I have also worked under Kalpana Lajmi and Vinta Nanda, and with Mira Nair too in Monsoon Wedding. I don?t know whether the divide is gone. Yes, a certain type of theme attracts women film-makers. But I find women-empowering subjects really boring. It?s like, ?Oh God! Not another of those films.?

nBut Nazar is all about Meera, a woman?

It?s just a coincidence that Nazar?s protagonist is a woman. But the real star is the plot. My next film should be about two 20-year-old boys and the world through their eyes.

nWill you be directing only for Vishesh Films?

Not really. I am working on a period film set between 1940 and 1947. Vishesh isn?t interested in producing period films. So I guess, I have to do it outside Vishesh. As and when they have interesting projects for me, I?ll direct for them.

nIs it curtains for Soni Razdan the actress?

I?m still acting but I am not being offered something interesting. That?s one of the reasons I got into directing. My career as an actress wasn?t happening. Direction is creatively much more fulfilling. I will definitely act if I get good roles.