Hindi cinema's reigning queen Rani Mukherjee opens up on her upcoming film Laga Chunari Mein Daag, the latest offering from the house of YRF (Yash Raj Films) - India's most powerful studio.


What was it about the script that made you decide to do this film?
I think the beauty of the script is that it talks about a strong female character in a slightly unconventional way. The very fact that the script talks about the eldest daughter trying to be the son of the house is something that lot of girls will relate to because every elder daughter is kind of pressurized to be the son of the house. It's got shades of grey and that's what has interested me and the fact that she is not ashamed about what she has done. It's something that she has kind of accepted and goes with it and she is not apologetic about it.

Which is your favourite music track in the film?
I wouldn't say that I have any favourite number in the film. But the song Hum to aise hai bhaiya is close to my heart as we started the film with it and I have a lot of fond memories of it. Yet another favourite of mine is Laaga chunari mein daag the title track. Sabyasachi was going mad doing the costumes and I remember how he had laid some fifty shoes in my make up room and got some hundred costumes for that song. We finally used probably four to five and he was so disappointed. Dada kept on saying he wanted to shoot the whole song in just one towel and Sabyasachi was shocked because he had arranged for so many clothes.

From Mumbai to Benares to Switzerland….what was the shooting experience like?
You will see a beautiful graph where the film starts off in Benaras goes into Mumbai and then goes into Switzerland and comes back to Benaras. It was fun shooting everywhere especially our first schedule in Benaras, where we shot in this Haveli by the Ganga Ghat. It was so relaxing and so soothing. The sunset at the Ganga Ghat is to die for and we used to look forward to our evenings to sit by the Ganga to de-stress. Mumbai being home it was very comfortable shooting there and then in Switzerland, one of my favourite places in the world. I went to Switzerland almost after six years. Your worries and tensions come to a standstill when you enter Switzerland because it's so peaceful and so beautiful with no pollution that it feels wonderful.

Can you tell us something about your look in the film?
There are three distinct looks in the film for me and I could not have done that without Sabyasachi Mukherjee. We work very well with each other because we understand each other. I just have to explain to him what the graph is and Sabyasachi knows bang on what I want. I am completely comfortable with the Badki character look which is a Patiala with a short kurti and dupatta and I think Sayasachi has used some wonderful colours. The first brief that Dada had given was that we are shooting in Benaras in the galis(lanes) and next to the ghats so the characters should look very vibrant and colourful.

The entire Natasha look with the bright red lipstick was completely Sabayasachi's idea. At first we were hesitant but later it gelled well with the character and now when I see the posters I thank Sabyasachi as I wouldn't have ever thought of doing a red lipstick look because I think it's not done for ages now. It's just come back with this film.

Any memorable incidents?
On the first day of the shoot at Benaras I was hurt on my nose because Konkana was supposed to play with a rattle and it flung on my nose. I got a cut which started bleeding. I was so nervous as it was the first day of the shoot and we had not shot any of my close- ups and I feared that it would swell and we might not be able to shoot. But luckily it was all sorted out.

I feel this unit was like one big Bengali family which just keeps eating. It's great fun because Dada, me, Konkana and Jayaji all speak in Bengali and finally at one point we realized that if we didn't speak in Hindi it would turnout to be a Bengali film!

What was it like working with Pradeep Sarkar?
Pradeep Sarkar has such an eye for detailing that nothing can go unnoticed. He is so particular about the frame, about the way his actors look and that's really wonderful because so many times we actors concentrate on our scene and we really don't realize how we are looking. Also, Dada is so child- like that if he wants something out of us he will go to the extent of even crying so we treat him like a big teddy bear whom we can sometimes bully.