New Delhi: For Anushka Manchanda, who makes her acting debut in this week’s release ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’, interesting projects appeal to her. She is not too concerned about the length of her role but she is keen on taking up projects that are different. “Yes, ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ is my debut film- you can say that but I am just happy that I am associated with a project like this,’ says the singer-actress in an exclusive chat with IBNlive.com.
Touted as India’s first female buddy film, AIG features 7 actresses including Manchanda. The other actresses include Sarah Jane Dias, Sandhya Mridul, Amrit Maghera, Pavleen Gujral, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Rajshri Deshpande. “I don’t think the audience has seen such a film before in India. The depiction of women in Bollywood has been rather different- sometimes away from reality. But AIG has very real characters," says Anushka and adds, “It is not easy to have 7 women on the sets of a film but director Pan Nalin ensured that we knew each other well before he started filming the film’.
Anushka and other cast members went through a rigorous acting workshop which actor Adil Hussain took. “We had tons of sessions and that helped us open up. We ended up building up our characters and that helped us understand our roles better."
Having so many women on the sets must have led to some amount of jealousy and insecurity? “In fact, on the contrary, we had each other’s back. Some of us knew each other from before but I guess our bond became stronger while working on this film. And that reflects on the screen as well."
Anushka first came into limelight when she and four other girls got selected to form ‘VIVA’ a girl band- the entire competition was made into a reality show back in 2002 . The band churned out hits like ‘Hum Naye Geet Sunaye’, ‘Jaago Zara’ before they disbanded.
The band members recently met in Pune after a gap of 10 years. “There were so many unresolved issues when we broke up and we sat down and sorted them. I guess we were young and immature back then and that’s why we split. Pratichee (Mohapatra) is my best friend." So do we see the band reuniting again? “Never say never, you know. We did speak about it but nothing is certain as of now. Lets see."
Being part of one of the most popular bands in the country helped Anushka get offers for playback in Bollywood films. Credited for singing hits like ‘Dum Maaro Dum’, ‘Bezubaan Kabse’ and ‘Allah Duhai Hai’, Anushka has over the years become one of the top female playback singers of the country.
Having been around in the industry for decade, Anushka feels there is more acceptance for different genres of music now. “It has definitely become more acceptable. Earlier a particular type of voice was accepted- not any more. When I started off there was only Sunidhi(Chauhan) and Shreya (Ghoshal) but now so many of them are doing such good job. Everyone wants something new. Producers, music directors are willing to try out new things. There is lot of acceptance now," says the singer.
For now, Anushka is completely concentrating on ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’. “This film has my soul in it. It was a small unit and we became very attached to each other while making the film."
Anushka is keen to produce good music in the near future. “I’ve sung something for Pritam which will be out soon. Besides singing for jingles and doing voice overs will continue. I am looking forward to create some ‘killer’ music," says the singer as she signs off.
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