Lara Dutta in a tete-a-tete with Subhash K Jha

How does life look to you?
I'm single, happy...I love my life.

How single are you?
I'm completely blissfully single. Every hero I work with, I'm linked with. They've also been trying to link me with some Italian businessman. They found some half-baked picture on the internet. Rubbish! There's no Italian or Indian boyfriend.I'm very happy to be alone.

Is it embarrassing to be linked with married men?
No! Not when they treat you like a chum. I never let it affect me. I do enjoy the company of men. And I'm not going to get inhibited at the thought of being linked with one of them the next morning.

How's your equation with Kelly Dorjy?
Wonderful. We've spent so many good years together. No one can take away those from us. Kelly and I know each other too well to drift apart. There's a lot of mutual respect. And that will always remain.

It's hard to keep the respect going when the love ends.
It's very natural for the hurt to remain between a couple when a relationship as intense as ours ends. For a while it was natural for both of us to withdraw. But that doesn't stop us from looking out for each other. A relationship as long-lasting as ours goes way beyond a romantic notion.

Are you looking out for another relationship?
No I am not. There's no one whom I'm even remotely interested in. And I'm in no hurry. After nine years I'm alone. And I'm enjoying it. Right now I'm so crazy -busy. I'm running around like a headless chicken.

What have you been up to?
Besides an Art Of Living course? I've just been trying to keep sane (laughs).I've been training vigorously for a film that I'm doing with Akshay and Sanju.

After a lot of comedy I'm finally doing an action film. Akshay has asked me to come and be part of this film. I guess we both needed a break from the comedy. This is a super- actioner.

Aren't you talking about a film called Blue?
That's right. And it's called Blue because the producers wanted to keep it simple. And it's very appropriate. I love working with Akshay. He makes me do the craziest things. If you've seen Bhagam Bhag, you'd know what I mean.

Bhagam Bhag also had Govinda in it.
Yes and later I did Partner with him, though I wasn't paired with him. Now we're together in Ravi Chopra's Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai. This is one of those rare films where the girl actually has something substantial to do.

I'm actually there with Govinda throughout the film. It's a completely different role, an authorized adaptation of the Hollywood film My cousin Vinny.

And I play Marisa Tomei's role. But I've got a lot more to do in Banda Yeh Bindaas than Marisa Tomei had in My Cousin Vinny.

Marisa Tomei got an Oscar for her performance?
I'm getting there. It may happen one day.

Good things are happening to you now.
I guess everything happens in its own time. Now I'm a little more worldly wise than I used to be. I am being careful in selecting my roles. I don't want to do films where I'm just a glam girl.

Doing so much comedy has given me the confidence to carry off roles where I don't have to be the hot babe all the time.

Is that a disadvantage?
Well, the way things are in the commercial cinema the ordinary girl walks away with the meatier role. If you look at it, it isn't the glamorous girl that the audience identifies with.

It's the sweet simple girl nextdoor who walks away with all the audience sympathy. But when you do comedy you get to be more accessible to the audience.It's very important for a heroine to connect with the female audience.

Comedy allows you that access. And I haven't done anything aggressively glam in the recent past except Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom.

So are you trying to scale down your glamour quotient?
Most women don't feel threatened when an actress does comedy. Wives felt my suspicious wife's role in No Entry had a bit of themselves in the role.I enjoyed doing comedy.Sometimes it's nice to go on the other side.

But I want to do films that give me a chance to grow. Blue which is an actioner and Sudhir Mishra's Devdas which is a drama....again, unlike anything I've done before.

You play Paro in Sudhir's film. He has finally got his Chandramukhi.
Yes! I'm so happy Chirangda is playing Chandramukhi. We've got a wonderful cast. It raises the bar for the entire project. As soon as I finish Blue I go into Devdas.

That's a totally different world.
But Sudhir Mishra's Devdas isn't really a period film. It's very literate and layered and I'd have to dig really deep into myself to play Paro. Everything I've done so far has been in a lighter masti vein.

So far I didn't have to cross over to a darker side. Paro is a dark ambitious self-destructive character.I'm not that person at all. I'm going to have to do a Duggu (Hrithik Roshan) on everyday.

Are you in a good place?
Yes now I am. I've learnt to focus on my own work. Your greatest competition should be yourself. The minute you look anxiously at others you're finished. I'm a mazdoor in a factory. I keep my nose to the grinding wheel. And I just want to work. My biggest challenge would be Sudhir Mishra's Devdas.

Any further excitement?
Yes a period film. It may happen soon.