Antara Mali plays a man caught in a woman?s body in Mr Ya Miss

How did you suddenly go behind the camera?

It wasn?t sudden. After Naach got over last year, I had a couple of scripts as an actor. But I wanted to do a comedy since Naach was such an intense film. I just wanted to have some fun. Now, in Indian cinema, a good role for an actress is rare and a good comic role is all the more rare. Then I don?t know what happened ? I just started writing Mr Ya Miss with the idea I had in mind.

But isn?t scriptwriting an acquired skill?

Yes, very much. Writing a script is very different from writing a book. It?s very theoretical. Also, I feel screenplay writing is visual. But since the idea was very clear in my mind and nobody could see the story the way I did, I just went ahead and started writing.

And what made you slip into the director?s chair?

That wasn?t planned either. It just happened. Chakravarthy (who played Satya) was supposed to direct the film. But Chakry told me that no one could direct the film better than me since I had the whole thing in my head. Next, we got Sachit Puranik, who was a second assistant director with Chakravarthy. Sachit and I went on to co-direct the movie.

What was it like, calling all the shots?

Fantastic and crazy. As an actor, you have to be so subjective to the script, reading it very keenly. As a writer or director, you have to be very objective and be on the spot with all aspects of film-making. And when you are both actor and director, it?s like being at two places at the same time. It?s really maddening and very strenuous too.

How would you define Mr Ya Miss?

Basically it?s a comedy, a fantasy set in reality. It?s about this guy Sanjay, played by Aftab Shivdasani, who is a womaniser and has 10 girlfriends at a time. He has a friend, played by Riteish Deshmukh, who is a very good guy. Then, Sanjay?s crazy behaviour gets him killed. Now, the gods won?t keep him in heaven or hell. So they decide to send him back to earth as a woman (played by me) so that he can redeem himself and understand what it is like to be a woman.

That sounds like a feminist line?

(Laughs) Not at all. Come on, we are not preaching here. It?s a comedy. We are showing how difficult it is to be a woman. We are also not degrading women in any way. We are just being politically correct!

Was it difficult to play a man caught in a woman?s body?

None of my roles has ever been difficult. I have also never been Antara in any film but they have all been feminine roles. But for Mr Ya Miss, I had to forget I was a woman. All these 25 years of being a woman had to be forgotten.

Did you do any homework to get into a man?s mindset?

The one-and-a-half months of pre-production that we did, I never thought how I would play the part. I didn?t do any homework whatsoever. So on the first day of shooting I was so scared, as to how I would go about playing this role. But it just happened.

Was Mr Ya Miss a one-off assignment or do you plan to direct more films?

At the end of the day, cinema is a director?s medium. In life, you can learn so much and you utilise your role as a director to share those experiences. Now that I have directed a film, I would love to put my vision across on celluloid. That?s not possible as an actor. So while I would definitely love to be part of someone else?s vision, I would direct more movies for sure. But then again, I never make plans.