`I, Me Aur Main`: Men have a default setting of being very selfish, says Chitrangda Singh

Ananya Bhattacharya

In an industry where women above the age of 33/34 are considered almost passé, Chitrangda Singh is changing the rules of the game. She is 36 years old, the mother of a child and she is – as every single person would accept at the drop of a hat – extraordinarily hot. Maintaining a figure, which is the envy of many women and the desire of even more men, is a formidable task but not one that can leave Chitrangda hassled. Says the actress, “It’s a constant process – there’s no shortcut. I can’t give you any miracle tip or anything of the sort. I work out – I’ve been working out for a long time now; I do yoga, I’ve been doing cardios and all of that, but honestly, now – the thing that works for me the most is kickboxing.” An ardent lover of sports, this lady is one who leaves no stone unturned when it comes to pursuing her favourite ones. “I’m crazy about tennis. I’m a crazy tennis fan, cricket fan, swimming fan and golf fan,” adds Singh. Speaking about her current role as Anushka Lal in ‘I, Me Aur Main’, Chitrangda’s next film, the actress says, “I think I can relate to Anushka a lot. And I believe all girls can relate to my character because she’s somebody who’s in a live-in relationship with a man-child. He’s selfish, he’s somebody who’s totally self-centred, he’s a typical male. Men somehow – any man – has this default setting of being very selfish and they just go back to that very quickly. I feel all modern women will be able to understand what Anushka is going through because we are all independent and so on, but our default setting is that we go back to being vulnerable. We have security issues – we somehow feel this need to be emotionally secure. That’s the space Anushka is in, and she doesn’t know what to do with it all. She’s somebody who’s in love with Ishaan (the character played by John Abraham in the film) but he doesn’t understand what she wants from him.” Chitrangda rose to fame with Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi’ and received ear-splitting critical applause. After having featured in several art-house films, the actress made her first commercial debut with ‘Desi Boyz’. However, when it comes to the quintessential debate whether or not she prefers commercial or art-house films, Singh says it’s a good film that she wants to be associated with. “I prefer a good film. I think that’s the only thing I want – a good film. The film needs to work for the target audience that you’re making it for. If you’re making it for the masses, then it has to work for them and if you’re making it for a niche audience, then it has to work for that. I feel the effort is just for that. If I’m a part of a film like ‘Desi Boyz’, it should work on a mass level; if I’m in something like ‘Inkaar’, it has to work for a niche audience. I think ‘I, Me Aur Main’ falls in that bracket – it’s a good film for me to be a part of. It’s a beautiful film with no crazy dramatic plotline there. “Also, most of the time we don’t really know what we’re doing in a relationship,” adds Singh. “This film will give all another perspective. You unknowingly become a jerk for each other in a relationship – innocently. And in the end you realise all that has gone wrong.” As far as her experience of working with John Abraham and Prachi Desai is concerned, Chitrangda admits to having had a great time. She’s had only about two days of work with Prachi, but with John, she admits to really having known him during the course of the film. “John’s involvement in the film has been really intense. His inputs on other aspects like marketing and music have all been very valid. He’s a very helpful person. He’s a very simple guy, somebody who comes across as very easy to get along with. You can crack jokes at his expense and he wouldn’t take that in any other way. That puts everybody so much at ease... there’s a lot of energy when John is around,” the actress says in praise of her co-star. In the past, Chitrangda has been praised to the heavens by critics for her acting skills. Time and again, this dusky beauty has been compared to another dusky star from the past – Smita Patil. Says Singh, “It’s been a huge, huge compliment for me – right from day one – from ‘Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi’. I think while we were shooting for the film, it never occurred to anyone. But then when the first screening of the film happened, people began saying that to me.” Speaking about her fitness mantra, Singh reveals that one needs to constantly pay attention to what they are eating. “You need to watch what you eat. You are what you eat – that’s really important. The dieting and all that don’t really work. “And playing a sport is very important – even if it’s chasing boys!” the actress bursts into laughter and signs off. In ‘I, Me Aur Main’ that hits theatres on March 1, 2013, Chitrangda plays a strong-willed corporate lawyer – who is emotionally vulnerable at the end of it all. And with this one too, Singh would probably take her performance skills several notches higher!