Chitrangda Singh on her self-imposed hiatus, a new innings and everything that pulls her back into the world of Hindi films
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 14, 2017)

In the immediate upshot of her acting debut, Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in 2003, Chitrangda Singh was hailed by the Hindi film industry as the ‘next Smita Patil’. But the actress’s career graph was to take an unexpected turn, quite unlike other overnight sensations.

She disappeared for two years, only to resurface with another Sudhir Mishra production, Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow. While this film failed to replicate the success of her debut, the actress quietly returned to Delhi, only to emerge again in 2008 with Onir’s Sorry Bhai! opposite Sharman Joshi and Sanjay Suri. The year 2011 marked Chitrangda’s entry into the big league, in Rohit Dhawan’s directorial debut Desi Boyz, which was headlined by Garam Masala jodi, John Abraham and Akshay Kumar. Her last two appearances were special appearance songs in the Tamil film, Anjaan, and Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar Is Back, in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Now, the actress is back for another innings at the movies. After a cameo in Tiger Shroff’s Munna Michael, she is a part of the principal cast in Nikkhil Advani’s Baazaar opposite Saif Ali Khan and has joined the ensemble cast of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s third Saheb Biwi Gangster film, along with Sanjay Dutt. How’s this re-emergence different from the last? Well, this time, she is turning producer too. Her first project is Shaad Ali’s Sandeep Singh biopic which features Diljit Dosanjh in the lead. The second one is a coproduction with Anees Bazmee, which is set to be directed by Dolly Ki Doli helmer Abhishek Dogra.

However, true to form, Chitrangda evades the subject of her hiatus. “It wasn’t a planned move,” that’s all she is willing to say.

In September, she started shooting for Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 in Bikaner. “Tigmanshu and I were supposed to work together way back in 1997, when he was making his first film, Haasil. Somehow that didn’t work out. If it had, it would have probably been my first film instead of Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. Today, neither of us recalls why the collaboration didn’t work out then. Tigamanshu is extremely edgy and I like his style of filmmaking,” Chitrangda says, adding that she is obviously happy to finally team up with the filmmaker.

Incidentally, she was born in Jodhpur, where she is currently on location for Tigmanshu’s film. And since she doesn’t remember much from her early days, she has been using her time off from work by revisiting her roots. “My mom told me about the army hospital where I was born and even remembers the room number. I saw the place and it felt special. Then, I also got to know that I had almost been named Jodhabai. According to my mother, the lady who was looking after me at the time had taken to calling me Jodhabai. Thank God mom didn’t go by her suggestion,” Chitra says with a laugh.

Back on the upcoming film, the actress says that the film has a great feel, “We are staying in a 300-year-old fort and there’s so much history here. It’s a different world altogether. I play a Rajasthani girl in the film and that shows in my outfits and the way I speak. The look is not urban so we had to work on the costumes carefully. I also had to take some dance lessons as part of my prep to get the traditional moves right,” she reveals.

In sharp contrast to this is Baazaar, which is directed by Gauravv K Chawla, and sees her portray the urbane and chic Mandira. The film also features Radhika Apte and debutant Rohan Mehra. “Mandira is a city girl, her body language conveys confidence. It’s an interesting film on the stock market,” she says shortly.