Am I going to get a medal if I get married, asks Bipasha Basu

Dusky beauty Bipasha Basu has been around in the industry for 14 years. Confident in her skin the Bong Bombshell is looking forward to her next flick Creature 3D, India's first creature film. Even as she continues to be a top star after so many years, her personal life is looking up with boyfriend Harman Baweja and she being quite serious about each other. Yet, the actor will not confirm that marriage is anywhere close on the cards. Instead, she has questions about marriage and love in her mind. The actor feels that marriages today are not inspirational anymore. Read more to find out why she is still so doubtful about marriage and love still.

Bipasha Basu is dating Harman Baweja

(Interrupts) What is the big deal? Why even girls work with 40 plus, older actors. We have to work with people of all age groups. We are all okay with it - Ranbir is two years younger, Neil is two years younger, Imran Abbas is three years younger. Karan Grover is one-and-a-half years younger. I have worked with a whole lot of people because I started working as model when I was 16. Yeah, in terms of work span, I have worked a lot. I started working in films at 19. My boyfriend (Harman Baweja) is two years younger than me. I just don't understand why there is so much fuss about it?

If a film had to be made on your life, who would you want to play Bipasha Basu?
Oh my God! Really? I'm trying to think who? Hmm? She has to be from the time I started till now? Tough! I think I will cast myself. I will use some special effects for playing 16.

You had openly said that contemporaries cannot be friends. Do you still stick by the statement you made a decade ago?
I say a lot of things and some things evolve also. You have asked me about something today. For all you know in three years I will be doing exactly what I said would not do! I had said that I will not act for more than five years when I had started. This is my 14th year. I am growing, I am going through life. You never know how your mind will evolve, what you will be. We actors have very little time to give to another person, especially in our business because we already have an existing life. While at work we have a blast on the set and outdoors with our colleagues. Time is such a factor that you cannot get those friendships back home. You can't invest that time. When I meet Priyanka, I hang out with her. I've partied with Priyanka and Deepika a lot. When we were at IIFA, earlier this year in April we had a good time. Hrithik, Priyanka, Deepika, Aditya, Kalki and I had a blast. Our equations are friendly. There is no animosity. There is no threat. The boxing gloves are not up. After a point of time, everybody realises that they have their niche. I am always in my own world. There is going to be a lot of new people coming in. People say, 'What is the opportunity for 30+ actors like you?' I say that after 14 years I am still here and I am a name. I can choose the work that I want to do. It is not like someone will come and become a Bipasha Basu. That's never going to happen. It's very tough to last. People come, they deliver a hit, they go after one film. So many people have come and gone in front of me. So it is everyone's individual journey. People may not be able to become best friends but yeah, they can remain friendly.

Talking about being 30+, do you have to constantly deal with questions about marriage?
No, I remember I was asked about marriage about at 20+ also! This cannot be taken away. I will pull out all the print interviews, where all of you, from the time I was 19 till now asked me the same question. 'So when are you going to get married?' 'Are you going to settle down?' It will happen. You know I am a perfectionist. I have to do everything myself. Right now, a wedding sounds like a very big event.

How much does it bother you that everyone else is bothered about your wedding?
Saari duniya meri maa hai. Everyone has asked me the same thing -- be it men or women. I tell my mother, 'Mom, at least you stop it because now the whole world wants me to get married.' I don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to get a medal or what if I get married?' I have no idea. Why is there so much pressure? Will something amazing happen to me after marriage? When I have somebody in my life can that one piece of paper change that emotion instantly. I'm just curious why people are so excited about other people's marriages. Here, marriages are falling apart left, right, centre and you guys want everyone to get married! Marriages are not inspirational anymore, honestly. It's an institution I look up to because of my parents. I desire to have a marital life like my parents. So when I feel like I'm approaching that, I would definitely take it up. It's definitely something I am going to do. But yes, when you look around, it's not exciting. It's disheartening. You see dry marriages, you see cheaters, you see marriages of convenience, you see people resigned to marriage and just being there for the kids. It's not that it happens in our business. I'm talking about day-to-day life of anybody at any strata of society. Then yes, there are also the good ones who we should actually focus on.

Do you think marriage and motherhood complete a woman?
I don't know because I've not reached there. However everybody who becomes a mother explains motherhood very beautifully, whether it is my best friend or my sister. So it must definitely be something magical. The fact is that you see the bond with your mother till date. I ask for the most unearthly, stupid thing at the most unearthly hour and my mother will say, 'Theek hai, ho jaye ga.' I would lose it if somebody tells me to do something silly so late in the night. Motherhood is definitely beautiful. Marriage, I don't know. If you find a good partner, damn good but I don't think it completes a woman. Then it should be the same for a man. Then you need a woman also to complete yourself. Why should a woman feel incomplete without a man? She has her aspirations, she has a family, she has friends, she is admired, she can be an achiever.

Do you think marriage is necessary to have babies?
I will not judge anybody else but for me it is necessary. I would like to get married first and then have a baby with my husband. That is very clear.

Does it make sense to attend a film awards function if you are not performing or likely to win an award?
It's really not fun. Sometimes you do it. Still, it's not fun, at all. I have never enjoyed it. I've done it for friends sometimes because that's a lot of pressure and coaxing, like gun on my head. Yeah, sometimes I reach but I'm one of the bad ones who doesn't land up most of the time.

Coming back to your film Creature 3D, the onus of promotions has entirely fallen on you because you are the only recognizable face of the movie, right?
I love to promote my films. People don't know about creature features in India much except in select few cities. The Indian masses have seen dubbed versions of Godzilla and Jurassic Park but when you say 'Creature Feature' they ask, "Woh kya hota hai?" That's why it is very important to create awareness for a film like this. Honestly, the special effects are fab. And, for the budget it's been done in, it's miraculous. Also it's been completely done in India. It's a step forward. A film like this definitely needs to be pushed.

You are used to working with co-actors. For Creature 3D you probably shot against a green screen. Tell us about this experience.
Actually, there wasn't a green screen. We had actual locations but yes, I had to respond to nothing. Everything that happens in the film is something you are told by your director. You are given a reference in terms of the creature's height, the kind of movement in that particular shot that's going to happen, whether it is happening around the cave or up or down. They just tell you the movement with the reference of the stuntman. So you shoot a reference shot with the stuntman, then you shoot a shot with the trackers and pointers for the special effects team and you shoot it bare. So everything you do thrice over. And yes, there is also 3D. It was physically a very daunting film because in a film like this it is all about the thrill, it's about the attack, it's about what this creature is, what is happening, how to kill it, are we going to be able to kill it, the couple of attempts to kill it. In every creature film this is the basic crux. Basically, the execution has to be exciting.

So, is it better to act with a creature who is not in the shot or real life actors?
No, no it's great to act with this Creature because I don't think anybody else is going to share this space, I am the first person to do it here. When Vikram offered me the film, he had ideas for two films. When he said what about a creature film and the moment he said that, I said, 'Let's do it! 'He said really? You are so insane, you don't even listen for a second. He said Bipasha, we are going to do a creature film and I said yeah, let's do it! So I said what does he look like? He said, 'I don't know yet. I have to figure it out.' That's when we decided let's go ahead. Then he arrived at the story. The process of making the creature was very tedious. It should not look like it is completely borrowed from the West. We had to give it mythological roots. We have to sell this film in our tradition. So even how the creature would die or not die is strictly a story around it. It was quite an interesting process.

Okay, but how different is it vis-a-vis acting with a human being in a shot?
Very tough! What I've learned is that I'm very imaginative. I have also realized that I have a lot of focus and a lot of patience. The first three days on this film were crazy because I am quite a hyperactive person. Post the third day I was like I knew I had to shoot so many more days just being focused and patient. We had to do every take thrice and every take had to be same. Every three takes you do had to be almost identical. So there had to be a lot of patience, a lot of focus. And the 3D, a visual tool, we had very dynamic shots planned. So they were also very tough to achieve at times. It's been a fun experience shooting, it's different, it's not like a regular film. Quite a lot of re-takes and then you get into the hang of it and then you don't make a mistake. The camera also has to always be alert because there is a particular size of the creature. So when you are doing an action movement or a big jib movement with the camera, the creature should not be out of the frame. So you also have to gauge with the cameraperson when you are doing a very dynamic shot that the creature has to also be in the frame. All that was also very tough and demanding for the team.

Actors are usually very wary about being in the shadows of their co-stars. Are you worried you could be overshadowed by the creature?
He is definitely the USP of our film. The first time I saw Creature, I told Vikram 'Vikram, I just love him!' And the best part is that he is so fit. Vikram was like 'Tu paagal hai'. Tu creature mein bhi dekh rahi hai ki yeh kitna fit hai! I said I am so happy the creature looks so with it. The beauty is that when such a beast stands in front of you and then there is the vulnerability of a girl fighting it. A man is supposed to be heroic. If the woman, when she goes through adversity, decides to take charge, she doesn't know what she is against but she just has to be brave because of the situation. It is just beautiful on screen to see this whole battle between the beast and the beauty.

How badly do you need a hit now?
There's nothing like badly. If it is supposed to be a hit, it will be a hit. Bad, good, kya hai? Chauda saal nikal liye ab toh. Yes, it's always good if you have a hit. Why not? We are meant to work. I have no answer to it. Yeah, it should be a hit.

What is the one thing you do not like about being Bipasha Basu the star?
I like everything. No complaints about being a celebrity. No, I love it. I think I'm blessed.