Courtesy: IndiaFM
Friday, July 08, 2005

Coming out of her cameos and elder sis Shilpa's shadows, Shamita came into her own in Zeher. Proving her acting abilities, the younger of the Shetty sisters has become quite a hot property. Coming onscreen for the first time with Shilpa, and second time with Manoj Bajpai, Shamita plays the other woman in Fareb. After Wajjah and Bewafaa, this is the third movie where Shamita plays a grey shade. In an exclusive with IndiaFM, she speaks about the film and the influence of Shilpa in her life.

Tell us something about the subject Fareb
Well, it's a thriller so I can't really divulge much about the subject. You are going to have to watch the film for that.

Tell us about the character you are playing in the movie
I portray the character of a businesswoman. Her name is Ria Singhania. She is someone who is very intelligent, very confident. She's a woman of today but also very arrogant. If she decides to do something, she will go ahead and do it. But deep down, she is someone who is very lonely and is looking for someone to just love her because she has been through a bad marriage. She believes that life has not been very fair to her. That makes her kind of vulnerable, yet on the exterior, she is a strong person.

Even in Zeher you played a similar character. What do you have to say to that?
In Zeher I played a cop and a wife. Here, I am the other woman. So it's completely different.

What can the audience expect from this film?
Apart from being a casting coo, it is a film, which has very good performances. The director has managed to extract very good performances from all the actors. It has some great music. And of course, for the first time it has us two sisters coming together.

Shilpa spoke about your dancing skills. Do we see you sisters dancing together?
Well, unfortunately our characters did not permit us to dance together and that is exactly why we came out with the remix of the same song. We just thought that we were coming together on screen for the first time. We didn't want to let go of this opportunity. We tried to make the best use of this chance. We have picturised a music video, 'Baras Ja', which is on air.

At any point of time did you feel you were competing with Shilpa?
The competition was healthy, which is always good. People keep asking me about rivalry. That is something I cannot relate to because it's my sister at the end of the day. Healthy competition is fine.

What was the atmosphere like on the sets?
Well, I must say that I've had the most fun working on this film and with this unit because Deepak, the director has really pampered me. There was a time when I was doing double shifts. I guess being an actor himself, he was really sensitive and would understand when I was really tired. He would literally ask me 'Are you ok?' 'Can you give the shot now?'. Not many people are like that. It would make you want to perform and give your best shot. I had a lot of fun. This character was very different for me and so it was difficult. He helped me understand the character better and eventually that helped me perform better. Apart from that it was a very young unit. It included my sister. So I just felt that I was at home.

Shilpa being your senior, what is it that you have learnt from her?
Well, in the past few years I have not necessarily learnt things on the set. I have learnt so much from her in so many years. I have had the opportunity to learn from her mistakes. She has had no one. She has learnt from her own mistakes. Whether its makeup, hair or costumes, I've seen her go wrong and learn from that. Even on the sets, she's amazingly disciplined. It's amazing working with her.

How was it working with Manoj?
Manoj is by far the best co-star that I have ever had the opportunity to work with. I have worked with him in Bewafaa as well. He's not just bothered about his shot and his performance. He takes interest in his co-stars' performances as well. Like I mentioned earlier, this was a difficult character and there were certain scenes that I have never attempted before. He would help me with those particular scenes. He was really encouraging. Apart from being such a great actor himself, he is such a nice human being. It is nice to work with people like that.

What can you tell us about the music of the film?
The music is beautiful. It has got a blend of romantic numbers, dance numbers and a lovely remix of 'Baras Ja' by DJ Suketu again. There is a beautiful romantic number by Kunal Ganjawala called 'Pehle Se.' The lyrics are just so beautiful. I think the music has a blend of everything.

Shilpa is a very good dancer. How much do you enjoy dancing?
I love dancing. I think music and dancing is in our blood! We probably inherited it from our father. I move to music automatically. Both Shilpa and myself have that in common.

What is it that you think makes this film different?
Like Zeher a lot of hardwork has been put into this film. It's a different character; I think the film has turned out to be good. So I hope the audiences like the film.

Deepak's last film Khamosh was not really successful. Did that make you apprehensive about this film?
Well, that was a very different and difficult subject, to be very honest. I don't think we should judge a director by his last release. I'm talking about Deepak here because I have worked with him. There have been so many big producers and directors who have had flops but they still go ahead and make good films. I don't know about Khamosh but in Fareb he has done a very good job. So the fact that Khamosh didn't do well, didn't stop me from doing a film with him.

Shamita Shetty - Wallpapers
Shilpa Shetty - Gallery, Wallpapers
Khamosh - Movie Stills
Fareb - Movie Stills

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