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'I have plans to get married and have children but I'm quite lazy and I don't really like to go out much. I'm usually quite tired by the time I'm done with travelling and filming,' says the 25-year-old single girl.

She, together with ultimate alpha-male Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, 38, actor Saif Ali Khan, 33, and actress Priyanka Chopra, 21, who was Miss World 2000, will grace the Singapore Indoor Stadium stage on Nov 30 at Shah Rukh Khan Live In Singapore - A Bollywood Extravaganza.

They will perform in high-energy song and dance routines with spectacular sets, hydraulic lifts, some 100 costumes changes and a troupe of 50.

On the phone from the J W Marriott hotel in Mumbai, she adds: 'Yes, some men are intimidated by me. But I don't feel bad, as it does help to keep the bad ones at bay. I'm not really interested in going out on single dates, but more so in groups.'

A cousin of the very successful Indian actress Kajol, Mukherjee is the younger of two siblings. Her elder brother works in the fashion industry.

Her mother is a housewife while her father, Ram Mukherjee, who is the founder of Filmalaya Studios, helps manage her business.

The 1.55m-tall Mukherjee, considered one of the most beautiful actresses in India today, has smoky, deep-set eyes and lush, long hair the colour of night. She speaks in the elegantly articulated English of the Indian elite.

Soft-spoken and warm, her smile is audible over the phone.

Her words are measured, believable and thankfully free of sarcasm, exaggeration or self-pitying world views.

'A lot of patience is needed in this business. When aspiring actresses get into the industry, they think doing movies is like a catwalk. But you have to put in a lot of sincerity,' says Mukherjee, who once said that Sylvester Stallone was the best-looking male in movies.

And get this - she seriously loves shooting those song-and-dance-around-the-tree sequences.

She also does not take offence at the term 'Bollywood', unlike the disdain offered by some serious thespians like Saif Ali Khan.

'Making a big Bollywood movie is good fun,' she enthuses. 'The best parts are the song-and-dance sequences. I think Indian actors have to be Charles Chaplin and Arnold Schwarzenegger.'

She is convinced Bollywood actors have transcended the media-generated hype surrounding their asthetic values.

'We have to know everything and be superhuman. Sometimes, we even have to represent God,' says the actress, who has been in more than 25 movies since 1996.

For all her rising-star success, she does not see that as too far removed from the daily struggle for survival as faced by people in many parts of India - her biggest audience.

'In a way, we've all gone through our own struggles, nothing is hidden in the industry. People don't really hide their joy and sorrow here.'

She paid her dues taking on small roles for two years before her breakthrough came in 1998 with a starring role in Kuch Kuch Hota Hay with Shah Rukh Khan.

She went on to clinch high-profile roles in Saathiya with Vivek Oberoi in 2002, and in Chalte Chalte with Shah Rukh Khan again in June this year.

She is also rumoured to be in talks to star opposite Ben Affleck in director Dev Benegal's next movie, a love story set in California and Mumbai, tentatively titled Bombay California.

'If it happens, I think it'll be good fun,' she says. 'Working with an actor from another country would be interesting.

'But making movies is like gambling because you never know what really clicks.'

The tireless Indian film industry generates up to 1,000 movies a year (compared to Hollywood's 740) and attracts an annual world audience of 3.6 billion. This is more than Hollywood's 2.6 billion.

Mukherjee is aware of the artistic constraints Indian film-makers face.

'Indian audiences are very difficult to please. A section of the audience come from smaller towns, where they enjoy simple entertainment, while others come from the main cities, where they like a little intelligence.

'Indian movie-makers have to appeal to people across all stratas.

'But I think Indian films are changing in that there is a good blend of Western influences, more financial support and a lot of technical geniuses who make the films better and more sophisticated than ever.'

In recent years, Indian films have won acclaim and a growing international audience. Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year, while the 3 1/2-hour-long Devdas - billed as the most expensive Hindi commercial film ever produced - also had a special screening at the Cannes film festival last year.

But amid all the glitz and attention that Indian films are receiving, can real friends be made in an industry crawling with plastic people?

'Yes. But it's best to be on speaking terms with everyone. The best thing is to do your work and then go home. I have close friends whom I spend time with.'

She adds that there is no rivalry between herself and reigning 29-year-old Bollywood queen Aishwarya Rai.

'I don't consider her competition because she is a dear friend of mine. I think there's enough room for everybody in the film industry.

'She has already been crowned Miss World and I think she has done her country proud.'

While Mukherjee made what she considers a real sacrifice - she did not go to university - to be in the movie business, there is little regret.

'But I don't really feel bad about that because I would not have been able to do both (study and act) at the same time.

'I can always continue studying when my movie-making life ends. Then, I can move on to bear children or study, whichever I choose.'

But she will need to get out and socialise more often then.

(The Strait Times)

 

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