Rani smokes, abuses in ‘No One Killed Jessica’

NEW DELHI - After playing variety of roles, Rani Mukerji will be seen in a completely different avatar in “No One Killed Jessica” - she plays a journalist who smokes cigarettes and hurls abuses.

“(Director) Rajkumar Gupta wanted me to give the impression of a strong journalist and to represent media as it is. I have seen a few female reporters smoke. I am just playing you all…so you can’t put me in trouble for this,” Rani, a non-smoker, told reporters here Thursday.

The film’s first look was unveiled and Rani was seen using Hindi abuses in the trailer of the film, which deals with model Jessica Lall’s murder case. Jessica was shot dead by Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana politician, in 1999.

Rani said she didn’t have to go an extra mile to play the role in “No One Killed Jessica”, which also features Vidya Balan.

“Thanks to my career, I have met a lot of reporters and anchors. So I didn’t have to meet any one specific for my characterisation in the film. Rajkumar just wanted me to use my experience with journalists to be like them in the film,” she said.

Gupta says abuses were imperative to Rani’s role.

“The abuses have been used to define attitude and not in a derogatory sense. These days abuses are a part and parcel of conversational language and we didn’t feel that there was any harm in using them,” said Gupta.

The cast and crew of the movie hope that the censor allows the film to pass without the beeps so that the audience gets a real taste of the movie.

The film, produced by UTV Spotboy, will release Jan 7.