Nandana Sen has come back from the US shattered by the experience of working on a film called Rockin' Meera.
Sighs Nandana, "When I signed the film I never knew what awaited me.The director Param Gill had apparently been following my work. He told the casting director Patricia Rose that he wanted me for the film. I was shooting another film called The Forest at the time. Now I regret ever going for Rockin' Meera."
She's not willing to go into details of what happened in the US. But she's shocked that "informed sources" claim she was unprofessional during the shooting.
"I'm bewildered because there isn't even one fact that's true in what's been said about my involvement with Rockin Meera! Obviously, the journalist's source is entirely unreliable"
She doesn't want to discuss on–record what transpired in LA.
"I don't want to discuss why I didn't do the film because it's unpleasant. A key person involved with the film behaved extremely unprofessionally. His behavior was shockingly inappropriate, in breach of all laws of professional and personal ethics, and made me extremely uncomfortable."
She pauses to gather herself together. "This project had been offered to me through my American manager Jill. Given the unfair and intolerable circumstances, and the production's inability to take appropriate measures to mend the situation, Jill and my lawyer Jodi both advised me to not do the film."
Nandana is shocked at the way basic facts have been distorted by "informed sources" to prove her unprofessional.
"Not even the basic facts are correct. I shot for only one day for the film, not five, and I was the first person to arrive on set at 5 am, along with the American makeup artist, long before any others arrived. There's no question of being late. Nor did I ever demand a personal trainer etc.
That is laughable and preposterous! Contrary to what's been written, the director was so delighted with my attitude he openly praised my performance as well as the patience with which I dealt with this long day.
He said he was especially impressed by my professionalism when during
one of the first shots, heavy shooting equipment came crashing down on my head Far from throwing
any alleged 'tantrums', I just continued with the shot with no complaint even though others on the set
were horrified. The director even left me voicemail messages thanking me for being such a sport, and voluntarily sent me a DVD of the scene we shot because he enjoyed working with me so much."
The abrupt disruption of Nandana's schedule for Rockin' Meera has left her with a lot of unused time. "But I've three films coming in the next three films. I've just completed an eco-friendly film Ashwin Kumar's The Forest.
It's an entirely American film produced by actor Richard Dreyffus. It's a love triangle featuring me, Javed Jaffrey and Ankur Vikal formated as a thriller set in the forest. The sales agents are the prestigious Arclight Productions. We shoot at Jim Corbett. It's so beautiful and so out of it. We shot it at a stretch in two months. It was a beautiful experience."
Nandana has also completed a "cute romantic comedy" called It's A Mismatch directed by Ajmal Ahmad. "I play a Gujarati-American girl falling in love with a Punjabi guy. My dad is Boman Irani who's amazing."
Finally there's the Salman starrer Marigold. Nandana admits she has a cameo in the film. "But it's the third-most important character in Marigold. In fact I'm dubbing the Hindi version shortly.
They had a screening in LA in February which went very well. These are the positive developments in my career. As for Rockin' Meera, I'd rather forget about it and move on."
