Mahie: I am not scared of being typecast

Mahie Gill, unsure if her character in ‘Not a love story’ is negative, doesn’t mind being typecast

What excited you about your role in ‘Not a love story’?
I wanted to work with RGV (Ram Gopal Varma) that was the first reason to be excited. Secondly, it was very challenging role for me since I had followed the case. I’ve seen his (RGV) films ever since I was studying in Chandigarh and I loved each and every one of them. They were all very different and interesting. Like Shiva was on college politics, while Rangeela was a different love story.


How did you prepare for the character? What was the brief and what was your interpretation of the character?
I didn’t do anything. I had only 7 days to prepare before we began shooting. Sir (RGV) had met a lot of people and studied the characters. It’s inspired and not based on the real story. So, while Maria was from South India, my character is from North India and is called Anusha Chawla. I could relate to the character on a certain level as even I had struggled a lot to break into the Hindi film industry. But the fact that no one knows with as much detail, exactly what transpired in the real story, so it was a challenge to perform this role.

What is the upside of playing a character that is based on a real person and what is the downside?
I am an actor and I take up whatever I find challenging. You have to get into the psyche of the character. These were all normal human beings without a criminal background and one fine morning they become monsters. So yes, understanding how they responded to the situation was what was exciting and intriguing.


Since your character is a negative one, in an industry loves stereotyping, isn’t there a chance that you would be lapped up with similar roles in the future?
My character isn’t negative, she’s a normal girl but the series of incidents that follow in her life could be open to interpretation. I don’t know how people interpret it. But I am not scared of being typecast. All I can say is I am not judgmental to call the character positive or negative. When a crime is committed by a person who is not a criminal, it’s just shocking. 

This being a thriller, do you like thrillers yourself? Which are your favourite ones?
I don’t think it’s a thriller, don’t know which genre it would fall under. Its got a bit of drama and romance as well. I love watching films that are interesting to me. Like comedies are a pet favourite since I believe it’s very difficult to make people laugh. So some of my favourites would be Tere Bin Laden, DDLJ etc.

What according to you is the formula for a good thriller? 
It depends on the director but then I don’t think there’s a fixed formula where adding certain elements can ensure success.

Every film must have taught you something, what has ‘Not a Love story’ taught you?
I learnt that sometimes running away from a situation is a good thing. ‘Bhagne bhi zaroori hain’. As an actor, I don’t think I learnt much as I was just too busy.

What are your future projects? 
There is ‘Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster’, ‘Michael’, ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ and
 ‘Buddha in a traffic Jam’.