Celina Jaitley “Mr Khan was not only my mentor but much more than that”
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Celina Jaitley has as many as seven releases lined up in the next few months. To top it all, Celina gets ready to shoot for her second international venture, THE QUEST OF SHEHERZADE and awaits the release of the first LOVE HAS NO LANGUAGE. Amidst all these the actress finds time to talk on films, activism for the gays and Feroz Khan, her mentor who passed away recently.
Hi, finally I got you to speak. You must be keeping quite busy?
(Laughs), Yes, I am really busy even though my last film GOLMAAL RETURNS released last year. It’s more than six months now but that’s fine. I think this is the right time for my next film to hit the theatres and I am all geared up. I am busy shooting for another film. The last few days have really brought quite a change in my life.
Yes… I know. It must be for Feroz Khan’s death. You must be very saddened.
(Goes silent and low on the pitch) I am really saddened. Mr Khan was not only my mentor but much more than that. He was like a father figure to me. He is the man for whom I am here today and I can never deny that. I was like his family member and his family was like my local guardian in Mumbai. He was someone I always looked up to… a person with a great personality. There won’t be another one like him and I will always miss him.
You in fact were one of the first one to reach his residence in Bangalore leaving behind your shoot…
What else could I have done! Though we had this knowledge over the last two years that he was slowly going to succumb to cancer and we were mentally prepared but such news is always a shock. I was shooting in Delhi and got the news at midnight and in the morning there wasn’t anything else but to fly down to his residence. I still remember how strong he was during his last days. He was the same as I have known him since the days of JAHNASHEEN. He wanted to remake QUARBANI with Fardeen (Khan) and me and the last time I met him two weeks ago he said, ”Celina Baby, I want to make QUARBANI with you but see what have the doctors done to me.” I will never forget his affection towards me.
So, it must be a difficult time for you getting back to work.
But one has to get back to life. He will be missed. I am still coping up with the news and so is his family. I have already got back to shooting.
In fact you also had to receive a lot of flak after you showed you support towards gays during the launch of Bombay Dost.
I really don’t care what people are saying. I have always displayed my affection and concern towards gays and I don’t think there’s anything wrong about it. Why can’t they lead a normal life like us? I have always been a gay right activist…for long since my modeling days in Kolkata. People have even started calling me gay and are sending me hate mails but I think it’s because I am the first celebrity in India to stand by their side. What I want to say that I am always with them and will always be with them. (Laughs and laughs) I am a straight person with lots of curves.
Okay so getting back to your films, it’s quite some time now that you have completed LOVE HAS NO LANGUAGE and had an international premiere in Auckland last year. When will it release here?
Soon… very soon. It’s all because of this strike and once it gets over the theatres will be full of me in the coming months and there will hardly be a month where you will miss me from the theatres.
And how was it shooting for LOVE HAS NO LANGUAGE?
Great… my co-star Ben Mitchell was simply great. I play a Bengali something which I love to because I started my career in Kolkata.
What about your film QUEST OF SHEHERZADE? It is said that you are cast opposite Sean Connery and Orlando Bloom!
(Pauses). There are a few things I am not allowed to speak on now… (laughs). Yes, It’s a big…big film for me and we have a fabulous star cast but I am not allowed to speak on the cast yet. There have been a lot of speculations being made but we will speak as and when only things progress, which means as the shooting stars.
Getting to the Hindi projects… you have quite a few. So where do we see you next?
In Subhash Ghai’s next, PAYING GUEST. It’s a comedy and then there’s RUN BHOLA RUN…
And that too is a comedy…
There are more comedies and to be honest, I will tell you that I have really fallen in love with comedies after films like NO ENTRY, APNA SAPNA MONEY MONEY and GOLMAAL RETURNS worked at the box office. Then there is CHAI GARAM, HELLO DARLING. The big one is SHOWMAN opposite Govinda.
So it’s all comedy…
No I am doing a thriller also based on a real life story that took place in US in the ’80s called ACCIDENT ON HILL ROAD. It’s produced by Nari Hira and directed by Manish Nair.
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Tags: Celina Jaitley, THE QUEST OF SHEHERZADE
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