While
Kareena Kapoor seems to have grabbed all the big banners, it's the
other millennium sensation, Amisha Patel, who's busy stirring up
the box-office.
All of Amisha's
three releases so far -- Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, Badri
(Telugu) and now Gadar - Ek Prem Katha -- have become
blockbusters.
After a hat-trick
of hits, Amisha has suddenly become the "luckiest" box
office draw within the film industry. Shooting for Tanuja
Chandra's modern day satire Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar, in
which she has the central role, Amisha spoke about the hopes and
responsibilities placed on her shoulders after Gadar.
"After Kaho
Naa... Pyaar Hai, I became a star. Now, Gadar has
brought me recognition as an actress. However, not every film can
be as big. I'm ready for the downside. Without dips, one cannot
enjoy the highs," says Amisha.
"When I agreed
to do Gadar two years ago, all my friends and
well-wishers thought I had gone mad. The director (Anil Sharma)
had flops behind him. The producer (Nittin Keni) was new to the
game. And my leading man, Sunny Deol, was going through a rough
patch."
"I was also
warned that leading ladies in his films don't have much to do.
Besides, I had to play a mother to a five-year-old at an age when
I should play a college girl.
"But I became
obsessed with my character of Sakina in Gadar. I became
my character for two years. Somewhere I had a hunch Gadar
would work, and it did."
Now, Amisha
predicts her new film with Hrithik Roshan, Aap Mujhe Achche
Lagne Lage, is going to be another major hit. Hrithik, son of
actor-director Rakesh Roshan, had starred opposite her in Kaho
Naa... Pyaar Hai as well.
Admitting that life
for star children is far more comfortable than a rank outsider
like her, Amisha says she's proud to work with directors like Anil
Sharma, Vikram Bhatt (Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage) and
Tanuja Chandra who believe in good cinema rather than the star
system.
"I'm very
happy with the films I'm doing. I agree it's tougher for someone
like me who doesn't belong to a film family. Star children get
opportunities even when they fail over and over again. Initially
an outsider like me makes a lot more mistakes than a star
child," Amisha says.
"Considering
all the hurdles, I think I've done pretty well for myself. I'm
very happy with the films I have on hand. I'm doing them with
total conviction."
While she hasn't
yet bagged films with big names like Subhash Ghai or Yash Chopra,
she believes it's the plot and treatment of a film that ensure a
hit. "And I was proven right by Gadar," she
says.
A trained Bharata
Natyam dancer, Amisha says she did personal research on the period
during the Partition between India and Pakistan before playing the
role of the Muslim wife who is forcibly taken away by her father
from her Indian husband to Pakistan.
Reacting sharply to
gossip linking her to Gadar co-star Sunny Deol, Amisha
said, "Even those who read gossip magazines know they are
junk meant for bathroom reading, to be flushed down the
toilet."
Amisha's
forthcoming films are two light-hearted comedies called Suno
Sasurji with Aftab Shivdasani and Family No 1 (now
retitled Yeh Hai Jalwa) with Salman Khan.
Amisha:
The new BO diva!