I’m itching to direct: Sonam Kapoor (Interview)
By Radhika Bhirani, IANSThursday, July 22, 2010
NEW DELHI - The gauche, overweight youngster who started her Bollywood career as director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s assistant is the graceful star well on her way to success. Only three films old, Sonam Kapoor is already itching to get back to direction.
“My first love is acting and I will be acting till the day I die. I love my job. But, yes, the field of direction is always open for me. I think I shall direct in a couple of years. I am literally itching to direct,” Sonam told IANS.
“I need a little more time to figure out what I want to direct and take care of the script and such logistics. But, honestly, I would like to give myself at least 10 years before I go behind the camera once again,” said the actress over the phone from Scotland, where she is currently shooting for “Mausam”.
It was Bhansali who thought of casting Sonam as the female lead in “Saawariya” while she was working with him as assistant director for “Black”.
The actress has been trying to do something different in each of her films — her debut film “Saawariya” was based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s short story “White Nights”, “Delhi-6″ was about the life in the walled city and her recent release “I Hate Luv Storys” is a modern day love story. She is now waiting for the release of her home production “Aisha” next month.
She is having a rollicking time in Scotland, with the cast and crew of “Mausam”, and is looking forward to coming back to India to promote “Aisha”.
“I am experiencing four seasons in a day here in Edinburgh…the ‘mausam’(weather) is so unpredictable here…but I am loving it. I am coming back home on 27th of July to promote ‘Aisha’. It’s going to be fun,” she said.
Sonam plays the principal character in “Aisha” - a young, free-spirited, stylish and spoilt high society girl obsessed with match-making. Based on Jane Austen’s classic novel “Emma”, the film is about Aisha’s life and her friends.
What makes the film special for Sonam is that it has been produced by her younger sister Rhea and has the backing of her father.
“Aisha”, releasing Aug 6, also features actors like Abhay Deol, Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh, Ira Dubey and debutante Amrita Puri.
Sonam has been zipping across the world to fulfil her work commitments.
From promoting “I Hate Luv Storys” here and going back to the sets of Anees Bazmee’s romantic comedy “Thank You” opposite Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Kapoor’s “Mausam”, she has been constantly on the move.
But she doesn’t find it tiring.
“I don’t want a break. Working is a holiday for me. I have a lot of work lined up till December, then maybe I take two weeks off. But I really don’t believe in the concept of taking a month off,” said Sonam.
In fact, it is her packed work schedule that is making her indecisive about two international projects that have been offered to her. One is a Ben Stiller movie, while the other is a co-production between her father Anil Kapoor and Italian actress Sophia Loren’s son Edoardo Ponti.
“Yes, I have been offered these two films. I have read both the scripts - one is a comedy, the Ben Stiller one. I have liked both of them, but I can’t give any of them a thought till I work out my dates. My schedules are jam-packed. I don’t know when they want to shoot - so accordingly, if my dates are free, I’m all for them,” said Sonam.
So even if she maybe Hollywood bound, what’s the kind of work she is looking forward to in Bollywood?
“I have been quite appreciated for what I have done. I want to do work that makes me happy and I am quite an impulsive decision-maker. I don’t mind smaller but offbeat films, and not so much mainstream stuff. By mainstream, I mean ones with big budgets and no story,” she said.
(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
