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"From addict to social commentator"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(25/02/07)
EDGY young star Irrfan Khan takes on an uncomfortable role again, this time
in Mira Nair’s yet-to-be-entitled short film on HIV/AIDS. The film also
stars Sameera Reddy and Shiney Ahuja.
Irrfan has no qualms about playing a gay role. He says, “I don’t think it’s
detrimental to my career to play such roles. We are not laughing at gay
people in the film; what is important is the message.
“Mira’s film is about creating awareness about HIV/AIDS, so I don’t care
about my image or what people will say. The purpose is supreme.”
Previously, Khan played a gay man in Ashish Balram Nagpal’s (never-screened
pilot for series) Adhura where he and Nagpal shared some “intimate” scenes.
He played another uncomfortable role in Nair’s The Namesake: an older man.
He says, “I didn’t like the experience of ageing while playing the role. The
body slowly starts giving up on you and you realise that you aren’t as agile
as you used to be. That was quite traumatic for me.”
However, Khan adds that such roles demand a particular experience. “It’s
important to do them. One must know what the experience is all about. Like
when I was playing a cocaine addict in Yun Hota To Kya Hota, I tried the
drug for the first time.
“I wanted to know how the body and the brain react when one snorts coke, but
I didn’t find it addictive. It did get me jittery. I will never do it again
as I hated that feeling of panic. The after-effects of such drugs aren’t
enjoyable at all.”
A new project that has Irrfan very excited is Rohit Shetty’s Sunday, which
also stars Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia and Arshad Warsi. He says, “Rohit and I
have been wanting to work together for a really long time, and it’s finally
happening now.”
From mentor to mental
YOUNG actress Kangana Ranaut has had enough of the speculation about her
turbulent relationship with senior actor Aditya Pancholi and speaks out.
She admits that, “Aditya’s possessiveness has begun to take its toll on my
emotional health and career. I can’t deal with it any more. Possessiveness
is Aditya’s way of expressing love. He’s like that with everyone he loves,
whether it’s his wife Zarinaji or his daughter Sanaa,” she explains.
Ranaut’s life thus far seems to have been borrowed from a film. A
dreamy-eyed girl comes to Mumbai. Mentor takes her under his wing. All is
well till the girl lands a film and begins to climb up the ladder. Hell
breaks loose. Possessiveness, aggressiveness and jealousy follow.
The young actress doesn’t deny the ugly incident involving Pancholi that
happened recently, when she was reportedly pulled out of a rickshaw at 1am
by the furious veteran actor and manhandled until witnesses intervened.
Ranaut says Pancholi was only angry because she was travelling by rickshaw.
She says, “Yes, he did intervene and there was a scuffle. This is behaviour
that I cannot understand, or handle. No one close to Aditya is able to cope
with his aggressiveness.
“Zarinaji whom I consider the best wife in the world is perhaps the only
person on earth who can control him. I can’t. And I don’t want to. I want to
live my life now. I want to focus on my career. But for that I have to have
the freedom to make my own decisions.
“People can say what they like. The fact of the matter is that Aditya has
been a source of support from the time I came to Mumbai to become an
actress. He took me to people, introduced me to the industry. I consider him
like a father away from home.
“If he feels any other way about me then that’s not my problem. I cannot be
too sure about his feelings for me. On my part I treat his family as my own
and his daughter is like my sister,” she says. – Leisure Media News
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