Minissha Lamba in an exclusive interview to bollywood hungama talks about her bikini avatar in Kidnap.
So, you're wearing red today, which symbolises power. Is Kidnap that powerful?
I'm wearing red today because it's early in the morning and everyone would be a bit sleepy including me. So hopefully, a bright spot of red would just be the dash everyone needs to wake up. Coming back to the film, all characters are powerful in the film. The role I play of Sonia is a seventeen-year-old girl who is estranged from her father. Her parents are divorced and her constant fight with her mother is that she wants to meet her father. She is rebellious. It has made her a tough girl. Sonia is just waiting to turn eighteen so that no force can stop her from meeting her father. So it was one of those days when a regular fight gets escalated to the point where she storms out of the house and how when she gets kidnapped, the entire change of events is set into motion. How finally her father has to come down because the kidnapper will only speak to her father. Now she has a double mission to get out because her father is finally here and she is trapped in this house with a kidnapper. So now, she is going to make the kidnapper's life a living hell. Such is her power.
There's a lot said about your white bikini outfit in the film. Why such a big issue?
I don't know. You know, I've not been a big film buff. But I think in the seventies, we did have makers and an India which was very progressive. Then the 80's and the 90's were like the dark ages, which reflected in the cinemas as well. The quality of cinema went down. Now we have a very popular culture and the bikini is back in business. We wear equally sensuous Indian outfits as well. But when you wear a bikini, the westernised form of the ultimate sexy minimalistic outfit, there is a lot of curiosity out in India because we feel that the Indian women are shedding their so called shackles which are representative of conformist clothing. Then you have actresses like Aishwarya, who've gone completely gorgeous in Dhoom 2, you've got Esha Deol and Bipasha Basu who're seen clad in a bikini. The recent was Kareena Kapoor in Tashan. So there is nothing that stops me from doing the same. Especially when you've got a vehicle that is going to present it well. When you have Sanjay Gadhvi coming to you and saying that I'm going to make you wear a bikini - you're not going to say no to it.
When you have Sanjay Gadhvi coming to you and saying that I'm going to make you wear a bikini - you're not going to say no to it.
What if some other director comes to you and asks you to wear a bikini in his or her film?
You know what; the whole novelty of doing it is wearing it once. What's the point of wearing a bikini in my next film release after Kidnap?
We will come back to the bikini issue but tell us how did Sanjay Gadhvi manage to kidnap you for the film?
It was very simple actually. I was called for a general meeting at Shree Ashtavinayak's office, who are the producers of this film. I was then introduced to Sanjay Gadhvi. I didn't know that he was signed by the producers. I had no idea about a film called Kidnap. I had no idea that the casting for such a film was happening there. Sanjay started talking and eventually it turned out to be a work meeting. We spoke about the film and he told me straight on that this is what I'm looking at doing. You'll have to loose weight, you'll have to wear a bikini and you'll be dressed in ultra glam clothes. Are you up for it? That's what I like about his honesty. He put his cards on the table and said that this is it. I don't want trouble later on. I don't want you saying that this wasn't told to me. So if you're OK with it, we'll proceed. I had just seen Dhoom 2 then and didn't we just love Aishwarya in it? Couldn't we not take our eyes off Hrithik Roshan? So how could I say 'No' to Sanjay Gadhvi? I was ready...ready for the change.
Did you ever try wearing a bikini at home and look yourself in the mirror and say - Wow?
Well, I do wear a bikini when I go swimming to the beach but not otherwise. I laze around in the sun and make sure I come back burnt to a crisp. It's fun but for screen it's a whole new ball game. I did go back home and saw myself in the bikini. I was like - Oh my God! I need to do a lot of work. It was hard. Wearing a bikini is not easy. It is actually a very tension filled deadline because everyone is going to be looking at you. Your mind is ready for it and your body is talking a completely different tune together. So you need to whip your body into shape and tell that this is what you are going to do.
Read more here
So, you're wearing red today, which symbolises power. Is Kidnap that powerful?
I'm wearing red today because it's early in the morning and everyone would be a bit sleepy including me. So hopefully, a bright spot of red would just be the dash everyone needs to wake up. Coming back to the film, all characters are powerful in the film. The role I play of Sonia is a seventeen-year-old girl who is estranged from her father. Her parents are divorced and her constant fight with her mother is that she wants to meet her father. She is rebellious. It has made her a tough girl. Sonia is just waiting to turn eighteen so that no force can stop her from meeting her father. So it was one of those days when a regular fight gets escalated to the point where she storms out of the house and how when she gets kidnapped, the entire change of events is set into motion. How finally her father has to come down because the kidnapper will only speak to her father. Now she has a double mission to get out because her father is finally here and she is trapped in this house with a kidnapper. So now, she is going to make the kidnapper's life a living hell. Such is her power.
There's a lot said about your white bikini outfit in the film. Why such a big issue?
I don't know. You know, I've not been a big film buff. But I think in the seventies, we did have makers and an India which was very progressive. Then the 80's and the 90's were like the dark ages, which reflected in the cinemas as well. The quality of cinema went down. Now we have a very popular culture and the bikini is back in business. We wear equally sensuous Indian outfits as well. But when you wear a bikini, the westernised form of the ultimate sexy minimalistic outfit, there is a lot of curiosity out in India because we feel that the Indian women are shedding their so called shackles which are representative of conformist clothing. Then you have actresses like Aishwarya, who've gone completely gorgeous in Dhoom 2, you've got Esha Deol and Bipasha Basu who're seen clad in a bikini. The recent was Kareena Kapoor in Tashan. So there is nothing that stops me from doing the same. Especially when you've got a vehicle that is going to present it well. When you have Sanjay Gadhvi coming to you and saying that I'm going to make you wear a bikini - you're not going to say no to it.
When you have Sanjay Gadhvi coming to you and saying that I'm going to make you wear a bikini - you're not going to say no to it.
What if some other director comes to you and asks you to wear a bikini in his or her film?
You know what; the whole novelty of doing it is wearing it once. What's the point of wearing a bikini in my next film release after Kidnap?
We will come back to the bikini issue but tell us how did Sanjay Gadhvi manage to kidnap you for the film?
It was very simple actually. I was called for a general meeting at Shree Ashtavinayak's office, who are the producers of this film. I was then introduced to Sanjay Gadhvi. I didn't know that he was signed by the producers. I had no idea about a film called Kidnap. I had no idea that the casting for such a film was happening there. Sanjay started talking and eventually it turned out to be a work meeting. We spoke about the film and he told me straight on that this is what I'm looking at doing. You'll have to loose weight, you'll have to wear a bikini and you'll be dressed in ultra glam clothes. Are you up for it? That's what I like about his honesty. He put his cards on the table and said that this is it. I don't want trouble later on. I don't want you saying that this wasn't told to me. So if you're OK with it, we'll proceed. I had just seen Dhoom 2 then and didn't we just love Aishwarya in it? Couldn't we not take our eyes off Hrithik Roshan? So how could I say 'No' to Sanjay Gadhvi? I was ready...ready for the change.
Did you ever try wearing a bikini at home and look yourself in the mirror and say - Wow?
Well, I do wear a bikini when I go swimming to the beach but not otherwise. I laze around in the sun and make sure I come back burnt to a crisp. It's fun but for screen it's a whole new ball game. I did go back home and saw myself in the bikini. I was like - Oh my God! I need to do a lot of work. It was hard. Wearing a bikini is not easy. It is actually a very tension filled deadline because everyone is going to be looking at you. Your mind is ready for it and your body is talking a completely different tune together. So you need to whip your body into shape and tell that this is what you are going to do.
Read more here
