Bipasha looks beyond Dhoom 2

By: Subhash Ghai, IndiaFM
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Bipasha has come back from Toronto a richer person. "After a long time I made a really close friend. She's actually John's friend. But after a long time I made truly good female friend with whom I can remain connected without a sense of rivalry. One can't do that in Bollywood. We've made big plans to meet up and have fun. I've my own equation with John's friends, as he has with mine. It isn't as though we have to be friends with each other's friends. It's just fortunate that we like each other's friends."

Bipasha misses Kolkata. "I enjoy my vacations there. But I can't live there. Of course Puja in Mumbai isn't quite the same as Kolkata. So I don't miss having my family around. But yes, I did enjoy Puja in Kolkata earlier. Now it gets too crowded and my dad gets tired out. The crowds are uncontrollable. So it's no longer fun. But now I've my entire family in Mumbai, including my elder sister whose husband has just got a job transfer from Bangalore. So my entire family of parents and siblings live just a stone's throw away from where I stay."

Bipasha grows reflective. "As you grow older you really look for your roots. At 17 I felt great traveling alone and making my way around the world. But then family begins to catch up. I've been away from them for too long. I need my family close to me specially since I don't allow too many people to come into my inner circle."

A new development in Bipasha's life: she has been, in her words, rewarding herself with vacations. "For years it was just New Years. But Now I indulge myself on holidays when I feel like. I just went to the Toronto film festival with John. It was a lovely experience. Toronto is such a beautiful city. I had been there earlier for work only. Of course I went because I got to spend quality time with John. But I got a chance to make some genuinely great friends in Toronto."

Tell her that John hopes to make loads of money to pay for their wedding and honeymoon and Bipasha smirks. "Oh please! I don't believe in lavish weddings. It's a criminal waste of money to call so many people who are genuinely not interested in my life. Better to invite only my genuine circle of friends... However there's loads of time before the wedding happens. And trust me, everyone will know when it happens."

Right now Bipasha is scared of marriage. "I love kids. But right now my nephew, whose parents are setting up house in Mumbai, is staying with me. And I'm scar-r-r-e-d to even think about having my own kids.... Right now parenthood seems like the most difficult job in the world. I've told my sister my nephew is enough. I don't think I can have a child of my own for a long time."

About her rather ugly run-in with the Independence Day parade in New Jersey Bipasha says women being harassed isn't peculiar to high-profile women. "But because we're celebrities such incidents get played up. But funny things happen to women all the time, whether we admit it or not. And those who think such things happen only to me because of the image that I have, I question their intelligence level. These things could happen to anybody, yaar. It's life."

Speaking of Omkara Bipasha lights up like a naughty bidi. "I really enjoyed my bit in Omkara. I got to work with a great director. I love Vishal Bhardawaj. Omkara will always be special to me. Beyond Omkara I haven't signed anything. I've two films with Abbas-Mastan, one with Sanjay Dutt and Ajay that is almost complete, the other with Saif that will start soon. There're three other offers that I'm considering seriously. There're twenty other offers, which I could've taken up at this time of my career, but I don't want to. It isn't necessary to work every single day of the year. I don't want to have 11-12 trashy releases per year. Whatever is offered is not what I'm always happy with. Now I'm looking forward to going beyond Dhoom 2, spending time with my family, my boyfriend and just relaxing.