‘7 Khoon Maaf’ is not an expensive movie: Priyanka

MUMHAI - Her dark comedy “7 Khoon Maaf” has under-performed at the box office, but Priyanka Chopra is confident it won’t lose money as it was not a big budget film.

We haven’t really spent that much on it. No, it isn’t an expensive film, said the 28-year-old who enjoys being one of the top actresses in Bollywood.

It wasn’t easy for Priyanka to go through seven different looks and emotions in “7 Khoon Maaf”, which is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. On top of it there were all those stories about the intimate scenes with her leading men.

After seeing the film, I’ve had people ask, ‘Where is the kissing scene with John (Abraham), the love scene with Neil (Nitin Mukesh)?’ Did I say there were love-making scenes? The one really lengthy bedroom sequence I have was with Irrfan (Khan) and that was done in a salwar-kameez. It was hardly pleasant. For the love-making sequence with Anu Kapoor, I wasn’t even present on the sets, she said.

The near-seduction sequence with Vivaan Shah was also done with a body-double. And Priyanka selected the body!

The bare back had to be that of a 50-year old woman. My back just wouldn’t have worked. I was shown dozens of backs. I finally chose one that I thought would pass off one which I thought could be my back when I am 50. The hardest part of ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ was ageing in front of the camera without props.

There was a lot of improvisation on location of “7 Khoon Maaf”.

That moment when I slap myself in front of the mirror? It wasn’t even there in the script! I was supposed to break down in front of the mirror. I suggested I slap myself, said Priyanka, who is sure she cannot get into a role without preparation.

I am doing ‘Agneepath’ and ‘Barfee’ back-to-back. I’ve set aside time for preparation. I expect a certain surprise element from myself in every role that I play, said the actress who wowed her fans with her performance in “Kaminey” and “Fashion”. In fact, the latter fetched her first prestigious National Award.

The recent weeks have not been too easy on the former beauty queen, what with the income tax raid in her house and reports that Shahid Kapoor opened Priyanka’s the door to the officials in his shorts.

Commenting on the incident, Priyanka said: First of all, my maidservant opened the door for the officials. Yes, I did immediately call Shahid because he was the closest to me. My parents were in my other house.

“Shahid is my neighbour. He’s five minutes away. He did come to help me out during the raid, as he would’ve for any other friend. But why would he be in his boxer shorts? I was very angry when I read this.

“The IT officials were very kind. But people who made up such stories were not too kind. I’ve parents whom I am accountable to when such stories come out, she said.