'I think boys are even worse than girls, but they are overlooked'

Sameera Reddy may well be known as the ‘Sexy Babe’ of Bollywood, but the actress has really managed to appease all with her serious image in Bengali Films. The National Award winning director Buddhadeb Dasgupta who is the man behind Sameera’s bong connection has recently signed her for his upcoming film, and with this Sameera will complete her hatrick with the renowned director.

Sameera will now be seen in a completely opposite role in Ashwini Dheer’s debut film, ‘One Two Three’, where she plays an out and out comic character. The talented actress will be seen falling in love with the lingerie seller, Lakshmi Narayan a la Paresh Rawal.
Here are excerpts from an interview with Sameera Reddy..

Q.: Both of your “Race” and “One Two Three” will release simultaneously. Are you excited?
A.: I have been asked the same by a lot of people. I don’t know how excited I am. Maybe I am little scared, or maybe I am having mixed reactions right now.

Q.: What would you like to say about “Race” and “One Two Three”?
A.: I guess you know about all the characters of “One Two Three”. My comedy track in this film is with Paresh Rawal. I am playing a corporate character named Laila. In the film, I try my level best to make Paresh Rawal buy a car. On the other hand, Paresh Rawal is trying to sell me lingerie. There is a song “Gupchup gupchup” in the film in which I am trying to allure Paresh Rawal to fall for me. In the whole song sequence, I am just following him.
And in “Race” I am playing Loveneen. She has similarities with Karamchand’s assistant Kitty. Here Anil Kapoor is playing a detective and I am assisting him. His idiotic questions in the film made me think about how someone should be so dumb.

Q.: Is there any reason behind signing “One Two Three”?
A.: In a single word I can describe the reason. It’s the director Ashwini Dheer. My parents are diehard fans of “Office Office”. That’s really a wonderful show and I too like it. And truly speaking, I am missing Pankaj Kapoor in this film. It would have been fun if he was in the film. But at the same time, I think there is no character for him in this film. Ashwini has written the film so well that people will just enjoy every moment of it. I think Ashwini will take me in his next film, too.

Q.: That was about Ashwini Dheer. What would you like to say about Abbas Mastan, yor director in RACE?
A.: I think they both really think alike. They never have any contradiction in thoughts or in conversation. They work like two hands of a watch. They work with such a big star cast, but they never let anyone feel that one character is less important than the other. They draw their characters very well.

Q.: What’s the reason of working in comedy after being praised in serious genre?
A.: Actually I have been working in serious films for few years, like Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “Kalpurush” and “Ami Yasheen Ar Amar Madhubala”. I think that as an actor it’s my responsibility to work in all kind of characters. At the same time, I have to mention “Munnabhai MBBS” as the reason behind my accepting comedy. It’s after watching this film that I felt like I also should do comedies. It’s my pleasure that Ashwini offered me the film and I readily accepted it.

Q.: Even though you have worked in serious films, people think you are the hot babe of Bollywood.
A.: It’s absolutely ok with me. Many people first call me hot and then beg my pardon. It looks like someone has died. That’s not cool. I am really proud of this hotty image. You must know that my first film “Maine Dil Tujhko Diya” is the most watched film on Television. People like to watch it every two weeks. It’s really good news for me. Four years have passed after the film was made but still people from distant places know me with that image only. “Musafir” also has to be mentioned here. I got the title of hot property because of that film only. With that film I got my acknowledgement in Bollywood and also got an offer from Buddhadeb Dasgupta to act in his film.

Q.: In both “Race” and “One Two Three” you acted with other actresses. Did you face any difficulty working with them?
A.: I love to face problems. But unfortunately there was nothing like that. People asked me what happened with Bipasha and Katrina as they were in “Race” with me. But how can I say that we remained so busy with our make-up and outfits that we did not have time to fight. The very same thing happened with “One Two Three”.

Q.: But we came to know that once your foot fell on Tanisha’s foot and she created chaos in the set.
A.: (Thinking) Look, it’s very normal in shooting floors. Tanisha is a very good human being. Actually we had little chance to work together. So there was very little chance of getting involved in fights. Besides we have lot of tension and stress during shooting. So it’s very normal. But truly speaking we didn’t do any such thing that the media can make such a big issue out of it.

Q.: What would you like to say about Neetu Chandra and Katrina Kaif?
A.: I don’t understand one thing that why do you make a big issue when girls work together. I think boys are even worse than girls but you just overlook them. As far as the floor of “One Two Three” is concerned I made pranks there also. I enjoyed most with Suneil Shetty. You just can’t imagine how he ragged Upen Patel.

Q.: Please tell us about your forthcoming films.
A.: You must have heard of the animation film “Mahayoddha Ram”. I am playing the role of Sita and Kunal Kapoor is doing Ram in that. Lilet Dube and Gulshan Grover are also taking part in that project. I am doing a film on Naxalites. There are Suneil Shetty and Ayesha Dharkar with me in that untitled film that is to be directed by Anant Mahadevan. We are portraying naxalites in that film. Actually as I have done in Bengali, I wanted to do some serious films in Hindi also. I am happy that Suneil offered me such an opportunity. We will start its shooting very soon. Besides these, I have signed two films with Kumar Mangat and one film with Buddhadeb Dasgupta. And after that I’ll start shooting for Goutam Menon’s Tamil film “Varanam Ayram”. Surya, the superstar in Tamil films, is working with me in this movie. I think South Indian films are better and we have to concentrate on those films only.

Q.: What happened to Sujoy Ghosh’s “Alladin and the Mystery of Lamp”?
A.: I am not doing that film.

Q.: You are a known face in Bengali film industry, but you are still struggling in Bollywood. How do you feel?
A.: I am acknowledged in all Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industries. I think every actor has to struggle till the end of the life. Even Shahrukh is struggling to stay at the top of the industry. Everything depends on whether the film is a hit or flop. Have a look at Abhishek Bachchan. People still praise him even after giving fifteen flops. Shilpa Shetty was foretold that her career would be over soon, but now have a look at her. Kareena Kapoor was told the same thing, but after a single hit she reached the peak of her career. I think it all depends on time only.

Rajnee Gupta-(SAMPURN)