Chitrangada Singh is giving a serious shot to her second innings in Bollywood with Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi. She walks down memory late and recalls the time when she was the girl everyone wanted to date.

Chitrangada Singh has shifted base to Mumbai for good. Her intentions are clear — give a serious shot to her second innings in Bollywood. Currently wrapping up Sudhir Mishra’s film Yeh Saali Zindagi with Irrfan Khan, she is thrilled about the love story set against a thriller and she describes Irrfan as a “magical costar.” She is also equally gung-ho about being part of her mentor’s film. “You know, Sudhir Mishra has this ability to write realistic roles with grey shades for women, which fits me fine. I prefer grey to drama,” she admits.

After Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, she went off the radar for a couple of years, only to return in Kal in 2005. Another disappearing act later, she is back, and seemingly everywhere. So how does she select her roles? Does she go for characters she can relate to?

“It is important that there should be some point of reference to play the character or else I will make a fool of myself. If it is challenging, I would want to play it more.” In such instances, she enjoys sitting with the director to share in his vision. She dislikes the idea of “preparing for a role” as she thinks “acting should be spontaneous for too much preparation might show on your face.”

Chitrangada confides that she is not much of a mainstream actor and even if she were to sing and dance she would rather do it her way. She has no qualms about being labelled as serious and says, “It is good to be different and to have your own space in Bollywood. Why would I want to be otherwise? I like it that I am unique.” Two of her other films include Basra, a cop film with Abhay Deol and a project with Akshay Kumar.

The daughter of an army officer, Chitrangada admits that she found Bollywood unnerving at first. “In this world, everything, from the choices you make to what you say, will be keenly watched. You cannot get personal with people in Bollywood. You just cannot be random,” she states philosophically.

As a child, she always dreamt of being a dancer and has learnt Kathak. Though she was in a girl’s college, she admits she was “somebody all the boys wanted to date.” Singh (Tina to family) has known her golfer husband Jyoti Randhawa since she was 14. Like her, Randhawa comes from an army family in Meerut and happened to be her older brother Digvijay’s friend.

Chitrangada admits that her stint in the industry, though exciting, has been carefully planned to accommodate a lot of “me-time” and family outings. Love for the outdoors is something she has borrowed from her husband, along with his love for sports. She talks of weekends spent fishing and skeet-shooting. Despite her many commercials, there is still an aura of mystery about her. When I mention this, she says, “Maybe it is because I am not from the industry and I am still not heard of or seen much. Perhaps it is because I do not wear a mask. What you see is the real me,” she laughs.

By Mrinal Sharma