Neha in 2060

This is a print interview, why are we perfecting the makeup?
I would much rather go and sit out in the sun and have this chat,” says Neha Dhupia, waving away her stylist and makeup artiste, only to add, “I love to get baked in the sun.” Dressed in a stylish black number, she decides against sitting outside, ’cos it’s not sunny at all — it’s foggy — and settles down for our chat in a large hall instead.“I am so glad all this (she was promoting her film in New Delhi) will be over soon, and I will be in Goa chilling for ten days,” she says. Her eyes twinkle as she divulges her plans for the New Year break. So, is she going to Goa with her boyfriend Ritwik Bhattacharya? “I have a small place there, it’s really small but I bought it and I love it, I’ll just crash there for a while,” she says, obviously sidetracking the question she’s been asked. Ritwik? We ask again. “Ask me no questions about him and I will tell you no lies,” she winks.
Neha is indeed a far cry from the dumb sex symbol she has so often portrayed in her films. She’s a smart, intelligent woman who can make engaging conversation.
“My film might not be such a hit after all, because I am not running around the country in disguise,” she says with a straight face. The dig at Aamir Khan for his promotion of his latest film over with, she explains, still seriously, “But I did disguise myself as an 80-year-old for a television series and I enjoyed myself. I have a full blown picture of me looking old and wrinkled, hanging in my room, and I have named it 2060.” But in Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, she looks like a million dollars, and she must have enjoyed working with Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukhla, both of whom have worked with her in Dasvidaniya. “There was so much fun on the sets that anyone would feel at home there in five minutes. I was sad when the shooting was over,” she says. “And the film itself is fun too. It’s essentially a comedy, but with layers to it. You have to first misunderstand the film and then understand it,” she makes a point. We don’t quite understand the misunderstanding and understanding bit, but she chooses to ignore the fact that we might have not understood what she meant after all. “This story is about how we do many things in the heat of the moment without even realising that one night of fun might jeopardise our life and relationships forever. It’s the story of real people who may be going through bad marriages, terrible fights, and yet be trying to put things together, unless someone comes along who spoils it all,” she explains.
So, is she the one who spoils it, in the film, that is? “Why do you think I am the one who spoils it? Because I’m wearing the backless dress, is it? Well, who else in the cast has a back worth showing off? Who could have gone backless, Rajat?” she laughs at her own joke but suggests, “Watch the film, I won’t tell you.”
Just then her phone rings, and with a wide smile, she says, “Hey, I have to take this one... don’t mind, it was lovely meeting you.”
The next thing we notice is that Neha’s outside, touching her hair lightly now and then, and whispering into the phone. Well, could this be Ritwik? She wouldn’t answer that one, she had said.
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