With four films in hand, Priya Banerjee has moved past her unremarkable debut in the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer Jazbaa. The Canadian-Indian actress talks about her role in the forthcoming 2016 - The End and her comfort level with Hindi.
You have signed several films for a newcomer!
2016 - The End will release first. Thereafter I am doing three more films - the Darr remake with Karanvir Bohra is an edgy thriller about a psychopath; Dil Jo Na Keh Saka with Himansh Kohli (the leading man of Yaariyan) is a romantic drama, and Dheet Patengey opposite Chandan Roy Sanyal and Shivin Narang is a beautiful story about life.
You have lived in Canada. Is it difficult for you to speak Hindi?
Hindi isn’t difficult for me because I have grown up watching a lot of Hindi movies. I was quite familiar with the language; and I could speak it really well. I also interacted with families who spoke Hindi so it was never a problem. Of course when I first landed here, my Hindi was very broken. I used to speak it very slowly too. But once I started living here I made an effort to speak the language with the help of my maid or driver who cannot speak English. I learnt Hindi faster thanks to them.
Tell us about your character in 2016 - The End?
I am playing Sheetal, a girl next door who has lot of dreams and aspirations but is stuck in a job she doesn’t like -- her boss is hitting on her. She has three friends (Harshad Chopra, Kiku Sharda and Divyendu Sharma) who mean the world to her. At a point the four discovers that the world is coming to an end ... but nobody believes them. They think that if the world it really going to end, they should do something they hadn’t done before but which they feel would make them happy. My character has a graph; she evolves.
Is this a comic film?
Yes, but not fully. You get a nice message at the end of the film. The situations are funny and it has Kiku Sharda and Divyendu Sharma! You cannot make a serious film with Kiku (laughs); I mean I am sure you can, but this is not a serious film.
How was it working with Karan Vir Bohra in the Darr remake?
It’s not the actual remake of Darr. KVB has portrayed similar emotions on TV and is very good at it. There are beautiful songs in this musical thriller ... it’s different but serious. KVB is a great co-actor we had a lot of fun on set even though the concept was not fun. We had a great time shooting in Manali. The film has lots of scenes in which he beats me up (laughs) but we used to enjoy a lot when we were not shooting.