You just got back from Cannes, where Mantostaan was screened at the Le Marché du Film. How important is this for such a film?
It is a great platform where you can sell your dubbing rights. You can market it to foreign distributors there, who can later dub the film and release it in their countries. Our work reaches many people and the producer can make his money. I am glad more people are following this as it opens up that many doors for actors and writers to break out of the conventional Bollywood mould and do something exciting and challenging.

Manto wanted to write for films, yet it took time for his stories to make it to the screen. Why do you think so? Also, tell us about playing one of Manto's characters?
Manto's daughters had actually mailed our director, thanking him for making the film. So, contrary to my initial belief, rights were not clearly an issue. His writings were probably controversial, in the sense that his character graphs were not linear. And maybe mainstream actors, who work so hard to establish an image, might fear that if they portray such a dark character, the audience might not accept them. I assuming it would be a question of box office numbers. And there may not be too many producers willing to put their money into something like that. For me, it was a dream come true to play a Manto character.

What is the most fun thing you have done in your life?
There is this elite club in Phuket where the waiters, all trained dancers, come and ask you for a dance to get the party going. I happened to tell one of them that I am an actress in Bollywood. Next thing I know, they dragged a table to the centre of the floor, two guys lifted me up and put me on the table. I then started dancing to Kaliyon Ka Chaman to a huge audience!