No masala, no link-ups: Amrita

On her recent visit to Delhi, newbie Amrita Puri talks about shooting for “Aisha”, doing her own stunts, her co-stars and her plans for the future.
Shefali, the behenji
My character in the movie was a complete behenji, with a choti and bushy eyebrows. They would paste actual hair on my eyebrows, but otherwise there was very little make-up. My Hindi had to be perfect and so I was given one month for that too.
What’s next?
While I have come across a few scripts, but there was nothing that really intrigued me and made me think, ‘This is it.’ There was nothing I felt that I wanted to be a part of.In fact, since I’m being introduced in this movie, I was advised to lie low till the film releases. My casting director, Amita Sehgal, who is like my mentor, advised me that since I’ve got a break with “Aisha”, I shouldn’t just go about signing random films. So I’m waiting, for now.
Doing my own stunts
I am really proud that I did my own stunts in the movie. It wasn’t a major stunt, quite small actually. There is this one scene called chappal ki love story, in that there is this car that comes towards me and I just miss the car and another car comes and my chappal comes off in the middle and I go to pick it up and this speeding bus comes and I just miss it. So, I had these cars coming towards me from different sides and the stunt director was like, ‘Don’t worry, Amrita, I’ll go over the tree but I won’t let anything happen to you.’ And during the shoot, all these cars were coming towards me and instead of facing them, I was running from them. While this was a very small stunt, I wouldn’t shy away from doing my own stunts later on. But not the death defying ones like Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan!
Female cast
Honestly, it was nice having so much company on the set. Lisa, Ira and me would share a van sometimes and our rooms were adjacent ones in Rishikesh. I really bonded with Lisa. So I liked having all the women around. We did have our little ‘girl fights’, but it was all fun. After this, working on a one-hero movie might be boring!
Any catfights?
Once you understand your character, you understand that this is what you need to look like in the film. Pernia, the stylist, made sure that everyone was looking good. But there were times like ‘Oh, I like that outfit better’, ‘oh, I like your shoes’ and ‘why can’t I wear that’ types. Also my make-up was much toned down because of my character and I’ll be like ‘I want glam make-up too!’
Shooting in Delhi
We were shooting in Delhi for 40 days. Sonam and I were the only cast members who were here during the entire duration. Other people would come and go, but we stayed put. At times, I would miss home, but I have a lot of family in Delhi and I would meet up with them often. Forty days in a hotel, thak jaate ho yaar. I would get sick of eating hotel food and crave for home-cooked food. I have a large family in Delhi. I’ve been to Delhi before, I keep coming here on and off, but this was the longest time I’ve ever spent here. I got to bond with a lot of my cousins. And I became closer to them because of this film.
Only in India
The whole movie is shot in India, no songs in Switzerland. A lot of it was shot in Delhi, so I got a full tour of the farmhouses in Chattarpur and other places. In fact, the makeover song was shot in a mall and I remember Sonam shopping in between. Sonam is very quick, she knows what she wants.
Adventure in Rishikesh
In Rishikesh, after the shoot was over, the whole cast, except Sonam and Abhay, went camping for two days. And that really was the highlight of my trip. We went rafting and I did cliff jumping. I was the only one who did that. Ira and Cyrus don’t know how to swim. I managed to jump off a 20ft high cliff. I’m not the sporty type but I like adventure, so it was great fun.
Link-ups/gossip
Actually, we didn’t have any link-ups in this movie. No masala, no link-ups, as we mostly had girls in the cast and crew!