Rani: 'Vidya and I are not friends!'

She's been low on hype. Cine winners had steadily eluded her for quite a while. Rani Mukerji, limned by the media as a recluse, is now hoping to reverse all that harm and reclaim her share of the spotlight with 'No One Killed Jessica' essaying an intrepid crime reporter in the flick that borrows heavily from the famed Jessica Lall case. Sharing frames with co actress Vidya Balan, Mukerji asserts that they're far from buddies. Ajit Ramachanddran chats up the trained Odissi dancer?

Fortunately, the mood is far from black. And, nah, Sanjay Leela Bhansali too is nowhere in sight.

Rather, Rani's mood is upbeat? and a tad lazy too. "Do I have to give interviews now?," she cribs good naturedly to her PR personnel. In the plush confines of a suburban Mumbai hotel, RM is savouring the joys of a massage couch in her suite.

"It felt so good, that I didn't want to get up," jokes Mukerji, even as she sashays into your presence looking quite fetching in her white ensemble. The panstick make up has been plastered on perfectly; the amber brown eyes have been upgraded with the 'smoky eyed' look and the nude lip gloss pout is in place too.

'No One Killed Jessica' bagged media mileage largely due to the fact that it was crafted on the controversial Jessica Lall murder case, apart from the alleged freezing vibes between co actress Vidya Balan and Mukerji; though later reports hinted that the duo had thawed and could be now termed "friendly." 'NOKJ' showcases Rani Mukerji as Meera Gaity, a fearless crime reporter, with Balan enacting the reel version of Sabrina Lall.

Your thoughts, meanwhile, are interrupted by the voice of a star filtering sharply into your ears. "I'm ready," chirps Mukerji merrily, prompting you to kickstart the Q and A encounter.

Presenting a slice from the swift chat?

Much of Meera Gaity, the firebrand crime reporter that you play in 'No One Killed Jessica' was fleshed out by your director through extensive research on the Jessica Lall case. What were your inputs towards creating a more effective Meera on film?

My director Rajkumar Gupta had actually fleshed out the character in his head first, and when he came to me, I think with a couple of meetings that we had for the film, he kind of saw the way I am in my personal life and in a very strange way without letting me know, has infused a lot of me into the character. So I guess when I read the character of Meera Gaity finally, when the script was absolutely locked, I just told him that Raj you are very naughty, you have actually got a lot of me in the film! So in a way, I think what he always wanted was that, because the character is an amalgamation of lot of reporters put into one, he didn't want me to basically have an image of any reporter before playing the role.

What did he envisage Meera to be?

Raj said that Rani, I want you to be someone who the youngsters will feel very aspirational about, will aspire to be like you, I want you to look different, I want you to talk differently, to be different and I want you to be today's modern Indian woman in a way. I want you to give Meera your own interpretation of how this character would have been if she was really there in the first place. Obviously, the fact is, because it is a mixture of probably 10 12 reporters put into one character, it makes the character very dynamic, very brave and fearless and it has just turned out to be something absolutely and completely different from what we actually went to achieve because the kind of responses we are getting for the character has been phenomenal. So I guess my director has kind of won in this round where his trick has kind of paid good heads.

Since the film has two female protagonists, do you feel that a female director would have done greater justice to the subject of 'No One Killed Jessica'?

Actually, like I absolutely believe, I have never worked with a female director as of now and the kind of roles I have played in most of my films have been really very sensitive and have been handled really well, all being male directors directing me. So I don't think, the myth is right that a male director might not be able to be very sensitive with a subject like this and a female director will, with all due respects to female directors. But I honestly feel that all my male directors have done a lot of justice with my roles and they have handled my characters really sensitively. So I don't think it is a shortcoming for Rajkumar to be directing this film because I think the kind of passion he made this film with, I don't think any other director would have been able to pull this off like the way he did.

Could you elaborate on that please?

Every film has its own destiny and its destiny is created by the director who directs it and this film's destiny is absolutely by what Raj has done because Raj being the director and the person that he is, was so full of energy and so passionate about this film that I really don't think there would be anybody better that Raj directing this movie.

Your use of the middle finger and foul language as Meera in the film, hasn't gone too well with the moral police and a certain section of the media. What was your response when the controversy over these aspects broke out?

It is absolutely in keeping with the character, because Rajkumar in the first place didn't really characterise her thinking that, because she is a journalist she speaks this kind of language or this is the way she is. I guess if Meera was a lawyer or a doctor she would have done the same thing. She would have used the same words and she would have been as dynamic as this one. She just happens to be a reporter in this film. But the way Raj really wanted her character to be, I think it absolutely true to what Raj thought that this character would be like this. That she would be as comfortable as this with her colleagues while talking, she would use this language and he personally feels and believes that in today's day and age people use this kind of language in a day to day basis and not as in demeaning anybody or using it in a derogatory way but just as in talking to people in a loving way. So I guess this happens and I have gone by my director's conviction. I genuinely feel that if I say yes to a film I have to go with my director's vision, I have abide by what he feels is right.

You had no issues with it on a personal level?

No. Not once did I want to question him that why is Meera Gaity like this. I was absolutely in love with my role and character. And I never really asked him this question till it was brought to my attention by the people who asked me about it and not all, but certain sections of the media. I have had Press conferences where I have actually seen the media clapping and whistling at the promo. So I don't think it is a bone of contention with everybody but probably one or two people take it as an issue of morality. But I guess it has to be taken in context with the film and the film is about a much bigger story and bigger cause. These things are really petty in front of that.

There were media reports that the working relationship between Vidya and you were really strained during the filming of 'No One..'?

I think when two actors work in a movie and specially two actresses, when they decide to work in a film that they believe in, I think the whole process of having a problem really falls flat because if there ever was a problem then one of us wouldn't have been part of this film. So I think the basic question here is why we are together in a film, if we have a problem with each other. And if we really did I think we wouldn't have been together in the film in the first place. These are things that people find interesting to talk about. It is good for 'masala' gossip where you want to think that two actors can't get along.

Would you say that Vidya and you are friends?

I would not go on to say that we are friends because I feel that friends or being a friend is a very important word and a very important relationship. I'd say we are friendly with each other. So obviously with your co actors you don't make friends just on one film. Like I can confidently say that Aamir or Shah Rukh is my friend because they've been my friends for years now and we've grown in our relationship. With Vidya there was a mutual respect that we had for each other as actors. We were together on this film because we believed in it and throughout the making we just had a good time because we were enjoying the scenes that we were doing. We were enjoying our roles irrespective of what people were talking. At the end of the day when we are working on a film, we normally don't really have issues it's just that people probably perceive us as having basic issues.

How would you describe your working relationship with Vidya Balan during the making of this film?

The whole process of acting is about reacting. It has been a pleasure working with Vidya in this film because whenever you have somebody good in front of you, your work always gets better because the person is reacting in front of you and you have to react back to that person. So I think that was a very good give and take in this movie with Vidya being there.

Were there any "creative differences" with your director Raj Kumar Gupta during the filming of 'NOKJ'?

Luckily for me, the way my director saw Meera Gaity was exactly the way I looked at her. We didn't want to go with the monotypical perception of how a reporter dresses. We wanted to give her more power dressing, since we wanted her to be looking the part. You can look your part if you are wearing those kind of clothes where people start believing in you. Also, we wanted to make the character a little bit more aspirational so that if any youngster wants to get into crime reporting he or she should not feel that you have to dress down to be a serious reporter. You have to look good. I think when I see reporters around me they are very well dressed. It's just a myth that people in film have the reporters dress in a particular way which they actually don't. They are actually very trendy. So we wanted to put forth this idea that with this film we wanted the character to be very smartly dressed.

Your styling was in perfect hands since Sabyasachi Mukherjee was in charge of creating the 'look' for Meera?

I was just having a casual talk with Sabya when he came to my place when I was just deciding on doing the film and told him that this is the next film I'm doing, the role is such and Sabya out of nowhere got really excited. He was like, really are you playing this, Oh My God! It's very interesting and I would love to dress you up in this film. So I said but Sabya I cannot wear your saris because this character will not wear your saris and he was like no? I want to dress you up like this? and exactly what Sabya spoke was in my head! And I was like okay. So I said Sabya it's great you want to do the film but I'll have to ask my director if he really wants you because directors have their own perceptions of having a particular designer. So he said even if your director does not want me, I'll just come and help you with the clothes. I couldn't take advantage of the fact that he was my friend so I thought let me do it the correct way.

So, you called up Raj Kumar Gupta for Sabyasachi's sake?

Yes, I called up my director and said that Sabyasachi Mukherji is really interested in the film and he would like to do it. Would you like to meet him and have a discussion whether you want to see if he could be okay for the film? They had a meeting and my director was hugely impressed with the kind of aesthetics that he bought in and also hugely impressed about the way Sabya thought about what we should do and he was on board. It made it easier because he knew Vidya as well and he said if I am on board, I'll do Vidya's clothes as well. And this is how coincidently he became a part of the project without much begging or anything of that sort.

Despite being a trained Odissi dancer, there isn't a single film in your repertoire that has highlighted this aspect?

I would love to do a film where my skills as an Odissi dancer are brought out. But there has been no film as such film as yet. But if I do get one now, I think I'll have to really take a break to get on to rehearsing my Odissi because any classical dance form is really very difficult. If I ever do a film like that I think I'll have to go through rigorous training and then do the film. Right now, I don't think I have the time to do a film like that?

You first acted in a cameo in a Bengali film called 'Biyer Phool' and then opted for your debut 'Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat'?

'Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat' was my first film but 'Biyer Phool' released simultaneously, because I'd finished shooting for 'Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat' and then started work on 'Biyer Phool'. Coincidently, because the producers were the same i.e. Salim Akhtar, so both the films came one after the other but 'Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat' was my first ever release as an actor.

Do you make New Year resolutions every year?

I have never made any New Year resolution because I don't have any such resolutions that I need to make. For me, a new year is just a date. But yes, I'll be looking forward, waiting for a lot of my directors to come with more exciting ideas and scripts so that I can get back into action and work on more films and not have my audiences craving for more.