(From top) Pooja Bhatt with Ilene Hamann, Irrfan in a moment from Rog, John Abraham and Bipasha Basu in Jism and Udita Goswami in Paap

The enfant terrible of the Indian film industry, Pooja Bhatt, is back with her new production, Rog. She talks to Pratim D. Gupta about the disease named film-making and how small films need to muscle out the big blockbusters.

For the first time, your film revolves around a man and not a woman. What made you change course?

I had never made a conscious decision to make a woman?s story all the time. When I chose to make Tamanna, I wanted to tell it through a real story. So while it was about Tiku, the eunuch, it was told through a girl. Then again I got together with Tanuja (Chandra) for Dushman. Then Jism and Paap. But the story has always been the main factor for me. The story should be moving, it should be able to provoke thought. I am never one for good-looking, well-shot films. There has to be a moment in the film which will touch a nerve. I found the story of Rog quite fascinating and went ahead with it.

So what is it about?

It is about a man falling in love with the image of a woman who is almost a ghost. It is reality, with the past in soft focus. It is about four lives ? of a cop, a supermodel, a columnist and another man who is the perfect hunk. All of them are fighting their own inner demons. But it is ultimately about the cop, played by Irrfan, who is battling his loneliness. You get straight into the character?s heart and mind from the first scene itself.

A man in love with a dead woman. That sounds bizarre?

(Laughs) It?s not that bizarre. It is very romantic. I know many women who will swoon to know that someone can fall in love just with her image.

Irrfan?s still very much a parallel cinema actor. Why cast him in this mainstream mould?

He is the thinking woman?s sex symbol. I have wanted to work with him for a long time. With Irrfan you can actually see the script on paper being translated immediately in front of your eyes. I have always believed there are no bad actors ? it?s what you make them do in a particular film. But Irrfan has this amazing capability of adding so much to the character. In Haasil, he played a uniquely bad guy. Then in Maqbool, he portrayed a doomed character. Here in Rog, Irrfan is more himself, a warm and endearing, almost funny guy. There is this innocence about him which shows in the film. To me, he is the lost little boy who gets his release through acting. It?s such a luxury with him. You give him the three pages of dialogues and let the camera roll and you just watch the film running out. To me, he is more mainstream than many so-called mainstream actors.

But can he get the audiences in just by himself?

I think he is a very attractive man. Yes, John Abraham is a good looking man, but so is Irrfan in his own way. I prefer a Denzel Washington to a Brad Pitt. There are so many people in the industry who go ga-ga over Irrfan, but how many of them have actually backed him? He is brilliant in the film ? he spends half the screen time just reacting to a poster. Take that.

Why Ilene Hamann?

I wanted someone with no trade image and also someone completely opposite to Irrfan. Ilene is a lovely exotic bird. She might not be the best actress around but she has this effect on you. There?s something so vulnerable about her face, her gaze. On Christmas Day in 2003, I was at a bookshop when she gazed back at me from a magazine cover. So I did something in reality that Irrfan does in the film. She has this amazing inner radiance in her.

If you are so close to the film, why didn?t you direct it?

I was never meant to direct Rog. It was supposed to be directed by another man who backed out just 10 days before the first shooting schedule. I am happy he didn?t do that 10 days into the shooting. I knew the script so well, I could have stepped in and directed it. But then there was Himanshu Brahmabhatt, who has been an assistant director to my father for the longest duration, ever since Sadak. Thankfully, he didn?t crack. You know what? Film-making is actually like going to war.

So what happened to Pooja Bhatt the director?

My company needs me to oversee the projects. When I direct, I can?t produce, I can?t design the production. We want to work on two projects at the same time. Our ideas are such they either work tremendously or do not work at all. So we have to make more than one film at one point of time. I have always believed in making films my way with my chosen actors, music directors, directors. I?ll continue doing that. While I don?t want to make a lot of money, I don?t want to lose money, too.

Your last two films, Paap and Rog, were premiered at the Kara Film Festival in Pakistan. How were the responses different?

See, Paap was not as unique as Rog. Rog is far more unusual in the sense that here are these four people playing cat-and-mouse with each other. So the response was more overwhelming. If Paap had 40 per cent response, Rog had 90 per cent response. Everyone just lapped it up. They loved Irrfan. And they asked some intelligent questions in the question-and-answer session that followed.

What are your expectations from the Indian audience?

Right now, Bollywood is going through its own tsunami. With Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Sathiyo flopping, there is panic in the market. Distributors are asking me if Anil Sharma with all his stars couldn?t bring in the people to the halls, how can Irrfan bring the audiences in? Distributors have no idea what runs and what does not, otherwise they would have become directors. They demoralise you. Now I have been hit by the big flops. If there?s an earthquake, everyone gets tied to it. Now, Anil Sharma?s tied to me. I don?t play the star game, yet I am getting affected.

There have been objections to Ilene?s posters?

Yes, at a theatre here in Borivli, they found the posters obscene. Even after getting a certificate from the government, what can one do about these satanic groups? We will all be left holding our cans of films. It?s better to go to every political group in town and take permission from them: can we put up the posters? What is the use of certification? Here we are trying to make films on our own terms and we are having to face such storms. But I am never going to compromise my integrity.

Despite the critical acclaim, Raincoat?s been a washout. Do small films have a future?

It is about capturing the mindspace and eyeballs of the viewers. A big film has Rs 2 crore as publicity budget whereas a film like Rog has just Rs 40 lakh for the same. I am aware of the fate of Raincoat despite having a cast comprising Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai. But I also know that the 25 people watching the film in one particular show got up at the end and started clapping. We need our platform ? a proper market for the Rogs and Raincoats. It?s a big battle between us and the big films. We have to push the Kal Ho Naa Hos out of the way.

Finally, when will we next see Pooja Bhatt the actress?

Oh! (Laughs) I would love to be an actress now. I want someone else to push me around. And also, people will be asking me easier questions. But I will only do something that I haven?t done before. Through that acting stint I would want to learn all over again?