Where were you all this time? Everyone was missing Urmila?

It?s great to be missed rather than being around and not doing anything. There used to be lots of offers and even as I speak, there are lots of offers. But I do not want to do something just to prove to other people that I can. I want to do a great comedy. I want to do a great dancing number. But I also want to grow as an actor and as a person.

The Naina promos are so reminiscent of Bhoot. Why are you doing another horror film?

If you look at my film career in the last 10 years, I have always done different types of films. I have never done something remotely similar to anything I have done before. After the success of Bhoot, I was offered four to five films similar to it. I refused all of them and all those films released last year with other actresses. The character, setting, genre of Naina do not have anything to do with Bhoot.

The same thing happened when Daud released ? everyone started comparing it with Rangeela. Now, Daud and Rangeela were as different as North Pole and South Pole. Similarly, Bhoot was a horror film meant to scare you. Naina is a much-detailed and in-depth story with a strong emotional line. It is not only unlike anything I have done before. I also haven?t seen a film like this in India.

What is Naina all about?

It?s a story of a girl who loses her sight as a child, but regains her vision 20 years later through cornea transplant. But such an operation is not as easy on the person as people think. There has to be a tremendous co-ordination between the eye and the brain. So she starts seeing images beyond the general surroundings. What?s normal to everyone else is not normal to her. And that?s what I had to constantly make people believe. You have seen people playing blind characters, but this was something beyond just being blind and regaining eyesight. It?s more about this meek girl who gets stronger as life throws challenges at every step.

Naina?s not a chhoti-moti B-grade horror film meant to be just a scary ride and boggle the mind. It?s a big film shot on a huge canvas with shooting happening in 45 London locations including Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly. It has also been shot in the interiors of Gujarat. There is a special underwater sequence shot at the same studio where the James Bond film Die Another Day was shot. Naina also boasts of the most expensive climax shot in the underground of London. There has been no compromise whatsoever and I am very proud to be part of such good cinema.

Weren?t you apprehensive of working with a first-time director like Shripal Morakhia?

I didn?t have any apprehension because the script was so good with so many angles. It has such a lovely graph for the characters and some very touching moments. Naina is someone you want to reach out to. Her strength is her vulnerability. When I met the director, I realised that he had seen the movie over and over again in his mind. Here was a man who has tremendous clarity about his film. In an age where people don?t have a script with them, he knew the final product.

This is not the first time that you are carrying an entire film on your shoulders. Is it a lot of pressure to handle?

Quite honestly, it?s not a burden at all. Rather, carrying the media is a problem. I?m not a media-savvy actor ? I don?t use the media to make my life colourful. As far as the size of the characters goes, if it?s meaty it?s fine but even small roles will do if they are good. As you said, I am aware that I am the only star of Naina. But then again, I have been the only star in India who has used her stardom to do different subjects and lure the audiences to the theatres. I am not like the other actresses who sit in their air-conditioned rooms and say: ?Achhi picture banti kahaan hai??

Urmila Matondkar in moments from Naina

You are also coming on the small screen for the first time as part of a cross-promotion between Naina and Aahat 2?

Yes, I found the idea quite exciting. Aahat is already an established serial on Sony. I am sure that my appearance on the show will have an interesting impact on the viewers.

Which are the other films you are working on?

There?s Anupam Kher?s home production Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara, which is an intense hard-hitting film directed by Jahnu Barua. Then there?s Pankaj Parashar?s Benaras, extensively shot in Varanasi. It is about spiritualism and mysticism in the standard Hindi film format of song-and-dance.

What about your reported return to the Ram Gopal Varma camp?

A couple of scripts are being worked out. Once the scripts are ready, only then can we take a call.

Any plans of coming to Calcutta for Naina?

I would love to. During the promotional tour of Pinjar, I forced the team to go to Calcutta. How could we have missed out on the biggest culturally-oriented city in the country for a film like Pinjar? Of course, there?s the added attraction of rosogolla, sandesh and mishti doi, not to forget the amazing fish.