Firstpost

By Uttara Choudhury

Don’t expect to see bright, fun and beatnik, Poorna Jagannathan in an uninspiring, two-dimensional “wife or girlfriend” part. US theatre audiences loved her as an angst-filled brat in the play Queen of the Remote Control and are waiting to see her this year as Jane Fonda’s stoner friend in the Hollywood film Peace, Love and Misunderstanding directed by Oscar winner Bruce Beresford, who made Driving Miss Daisy.

As a New York-based actress, Jagannathan never set her sights on Bollywood, but found herself in the right place at the right time.

“I wasn’t looking for anything in India. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of Bollywood moulds. But I just happened to be in India for a wedding and bumped into Arjun Bhasin who was doing costumes for Delhi Belly. He told me he had read the script and thought there might be a role for me. So I auditioned a couple of times and fell in love with the script and the character. That’s how it started,” said Poorna Jagannathan, who plays a lead role in Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly.

“It really is right time, right place. It’s a lot of luck,” she added after a press screening of Delhi Belly in New York.

Audiences who expect Aamir Khan-produced films to be squeaky-clean family entertainers may get a jolt. But the well-made, 100-minute English language movie is solidly entertaining.

Delhi Belly has an adult rating as the three young men — Imran Khan, Vir Das and Kunaal Roy Kapoor — at the heart of the boy-buddy movie curse like sailors. They aren’t shy about having or talking about sex either. But the film has no nudity or violence, if you discount dizzy car chases and shooting at cars.

Jagannathan, who has trained at the Actor’s Studio and The Barrow Group, talks about the film and a clutch of promising projects in the pipeline. The actress is also an advertising professional and runs her own marketing strategy consultancy, Cowgirls & Indians. Excerpts:

You sizzle as Imran Khan’s love interest in the riotous boy-buddy comedy. How would you describe your character, Maneka?

I think she is a pistol! She lives life on her own terms. She’s very comfortable in her own skin and never apologises for who she is. I love her directness. Even though she is quite outrageous, there is something that makes her very relatable.

Would you say there is a bit of you in Menaka?

She is definitely a lot ballsier than I am. But I guess she’s one character closest to who I am.

She’s definitely my favourite movie character so far. I have had some very diverse theatre roles. In Queen of the Remote Control, I played an angst-filled 17-year-old; I’ve played a very timid nun in a play called Kalighat. But that’s theatre. Film and TV here is a different story. I end up playing the doctor or the lawyer more often than not. My idea of a nightmare audition is something with the word ‘defibrillator’ in it.

So with this character in Delhi Belly, I just got to let loose. There was a lot of improv, a lot of crazy comedy. Indian women here don’t get to spread their wings a lot and play characters like Menaka. We all get pretty boxed in.

The director allowed you to keep your accent.

I think it’s something they went back and forth with while casting me. I know they wanted Delhi Belly to feel authentically like a Delhi story. I do think I pull off the accent but there is certainly something different. But you know, they were really cool; once they cast me, they didn’t say, ‘We love you. You’re perfect. Now change’. They just let me be.

Do you think Delhi Belly with its makeout scenes and irreverent adult humour signals that Indian filmmakers and audiences are ready to get past their prudishness?

To get past Indian prudishness I think might take a lot more than just this film. It certainly pushes the boundaries and probably oversteps them. But I think people actually do want to see a film like this. I think it will be outrageous and unsettling, but at the end of the day, I think this film might change the conversation a little bit about what’s possible.

Was Delhi Belly produced with an A rating in mind or were you all surprised the film attracted the adult rating?

I can’t speak for everyone, but I was expecting the movie to be nothing more than the opening credits and then the closing credits with everything in between completely cut out or bleeped out. And then I heard it passed unscathed through the censor board. And not only that, apparently the censors found it funny and were laughing. I was in shock.

Of course this movie is an “A” movie. Unfortunately it means that my parents get to see it, but I hope they don’t. Kids, leave your parents at home.

You are visible in America and audiences here know you from lots of TV shows like Law and Order, Royal Pains, and Rescue Me. But did you have to go through the wringer with tough auditions for Delhi Belly?

I wasn’t in India to try and break into Bollywood. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Maybe if I sat at the Bagel shop long enough. But that being said, I really had to prove myself. They wanted a girl from India. There is something about this movie which is hundred percent an Indian story; there isn’t an NRI angle to this movie.

It’s also a low budget movie. I was living in Los Angeles at that time, so there was an obvious cost implication. Everyone knew I was a great fit for the role, but it certainly was a long drawn casting process. I had to audition a couple of times. The director changed half-way and I had to fly back down to India to meet Abhinay. I had to do a chemistry check with Aamir. There were a lot of steps.

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