On a cover drive

While the audience will get to see a ‘born-again’ Rani, the actress is mincing no words about her excitement on her rather pain-staking work in Yash Raj’s Dil Bole Hadippa. It’s been quite a tough act. “For one, I was playing a boy and two, a cricketer at that. To think that I’ve never played cricket in my entire life and here I was, being coached in the sport for six months. At the end of it, I managed to hit a few sixes. But you got to watch the movie to find out if I played the shots rights,” she says.

If the serd boy, she essays, looks like Harbajan Singh’s ‘long-lost cousin’, it was not quite coincidental.
“My make-up  was done by a Hollywood artist who initially had no clue how a
sardar looked.

He asked my director for reference. And since Harbhajan was found easily on the Net, the director send his image to the artist.” And the rest is on screen.
Well, the disguise worked for the actress. She went unrecognised many times during the shooting. “We shot in Chandigarh, Jodhpur and Mumbai, and many a time, people didn’t recognise who I was. Even those working on the sets would push me around and I had to to tell them “Arre yaar, it’s me!”

But the ‘gender change’ was no smooth transition . “Applying gum on your cheeks to fix the beard and then removing it was a horrifying experience. Nevertheless, I was in love with the character,” she says.

Seems like tears are taking a break, on screen too. “My fans were tired of my weeping all the time. I wanted to do something where the audience could laugh with me, where I could keep them in splits. I am a born comedian, at least that’s what my family tells me. So it was not difficult to play the part. Moreover, I like to reinvent myself constantly.”
The rediscovery could also mean an action movie not too far in future. “I yearn to do one,” she says.

“Did anyone expect me to come out in the role of a boy? So that too would be a surprise,” she says.

While the actress is revelling in the glory of being talked about all over again, while she’s also doing rounds on TV shows  promoting Hadippa, she’s also keeping her doors open to the South. “I would grab any role in the South if it’s good enough.”
Seems like the party has just begun!