After the commercial disaster that was London Dreams, poorly promoted with a stop-start campaign, a meandering overlong script and with ageing actors trying to look like young studs, Asin, who was disappointed with the way she was edited in the movie, has decided she’s going to be more choosy about her films in future. “Remember, I am still new in Bollywood,” she explained, “Now that Ghajini and London Dreams have been released, I am looking at new scripts, but being very selective; I want to do something that will give me total satisfaction.” Meanwhile, she appears on the cover of FHM this month looking stunning as always in black leather pants.
Asin recently dropped out of Ashutosh Gowariker’s film about the Chittagong Uprising – Khelen Hum Jee Jaan Se – and has since been replaced by Deepika Padukone. It seems an unusual decision for Asin as the movie is sure to generate a lot of interest with Ashutosh being skilled in making historical epics. In addition, the role of Kalpana Dutta is nationally and heroically significant. A friend explained her decision: “Asin is tired of being sidelined in films,” the friend said, “If she was praised for her performance in Ghajini, everybody knows who hogged most of the limelight. If she would have been promoted well during her first film, she wouldn’t have been taken for granted by other directors. The other being Vipul Shah, who didn’t utilise Asin in London Dreams, he made sure Salman and Ajay were the stars of the film and made Asin look a mere extra in the film.”
Not that Asin disliked working on the film. Above all, she enjoyed Ajay’s practical jokes. “One day, on the sets, I was startled by loud banging on my caravan door,” she says, “I opened it and this huge six-foot plus black giant fell into the room and started yelling at the top of his voice. For a minute I was intimidated. Then, I wondered, how could an intruder could enter a closed set? Something was fishy! I let him rant for a while, then, told him politely, ‘Thank you sir for the entertainment. Now can you please leave so I can get some work done?’ He was momentarily stumped, then burst into loud laughter knowing that the game was up.”
