Meera: Bold & Beautiful

KISS or miss, Pakistani actress Meera is all set to singe the Indian big screen with Nazar. She talks to Pratim D. Gupta about the Bollywood experience, how it feels to be the Aishwarya Rai on the other side of the border and her plans.

Q & A
Before even your first film has released here in India, there has been so much controversy about your kiss with Ashmit Patel in Nazar. What were your initial reactions when your people were threatening to bomb your press conference and ban you from films…

All the allegations were completely baseless. There is no vulgarity whatsoever in Nazar. Why make such controversies out of nothing? The film isn’t like that at all. Whatever love is there in the film has been captured in a very delicate manner. Nazar is a supernatural thriller — it’s not a sex-based film, not even a romantic film.

What was it like, shooting for the film in India?

It was a great experience with everyone around being very friendly. Mahesh Bhatt (producer of Nazar), of course, has been like a father figure. I also have a friend there in Mumbai who looks after me whenever I’m in India.

I feel honoured to have worked with a professional team like that of the Bhatts. During the making of Nazar, I also got a lot of offers from other Bollywood producers. But I have to be extremely selective about the kind of films I choose to do. In fact, I have decided to work only with the Bhatt family.

What was Soni Razdan like as a director?

She was brilliant. Soni has great aesthetic sense and is very strong-minded as a person. Of course she’s very new, with Nazar being her directorial debut. But she’s already got great imagination and should head towards Hollywood. Soni is so confident about every aspect of film-making — from lighting to costumes to make-up. She would just keep getting better in the future.

And what about Ashmit Patel — who is very much a big part of the infamous ‘kiss’ controversy?

Ashmit is very sexy — he has very nice looks. He is also a very soft man — I really liked him. He is a good actor too and should become a very big superstar in India in the days to come. Polish, polish, polish and he will become big with the passage of time.

The people in Pakistan treat you like their Aishwarya Rai…

They love me a lot. I do a lot of work here in Pakistan and they appreciate my films. In future, I plan to work in both India and Pakistan.

Indo-Pak friendship will be very good for both the film industries. Films like Nazar will be very helpful for the bond. That after 56 years there has been a co-production between the two countries is just great. Finally, it is happening.

And all credit goes to Mahesh Bhatt. He attended the Kara Film Festival in Karachi and it was there that he offered me a role in his forthcoming production. It was such a big step in the history of Indian cinema. Pakistani people like him a lot and respect him for his body of work. I think Mahesh Bhatt is a big name in the whole of South Asia.

Had they kept the kiss in the film?

You see, I’m just an actress. It’s not my department at all. I am just doing a job. All these creative decisions are to be taken by Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan. I don’t want to interfere. If they feel that they would keep the kiss or delete it, it’s fine with me. At the end of the day, they have the final authority.

But I’m happy that they have decided to do away with the scene.

The stills and promos of Nazar still look quite steamy…

I just follow what my director says and that applies to Nazar also. Personally, I don’t like too much boldness. I’m not comfortable at all wearing those small dresses in films. I am confident about my own abilities and I’m sure people will like me for my acting skills.●