After 'Bunty Aur Babli', Rani Mukerji is seeking to seal her naughty image with 'Aiyyaa', saying 'whacky' roles come naturally to her

Rani says she is similar to her onscreen character of Meenakshi Deshpande, who is divided between her love for a South Indian and a Marathi boy of her parents' choice.

"'Aiyya' comes in the category of films that I enjoy doing the most, that is romantic comedy. I am a romantic at heart and like the whacky aspect of life and human nature, " Rani told.

"I get to show my histrionics in this film because Meenakshi is a dreamer. It was a joyride and I think that my fans want to see me in naughty roles. They come quite naturally to me. Actually, I want to take them on a 'Wakda' (whacky) ride."

Rani, a trained Odissi dancer, is happy that she managed to show her dancing skills with three item songs in the film. "My dancing had taken a back seat because of my performances. But I am glad that my dancing skills are coming to forefront with this film, " she says.


Rani learnt traditional Marathi dance Lavani and belly dancing for the film, besides doing a South Indian number.

"Learning belly dancing was something spectacular in my life because I always wanted to learn it. My teacher who came to teach me from Delhi has given me the official belly dancing tag. "Since all the three songs happen in a dream sequence, everybody --composer Amit Trivedi, lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya and choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant -- got an opportunity to go beyond their limits."

Directed by debutante Sachin Kundalkar and produced by Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18, the film hits theatres this week with 'Chittagong' and Ramgopal Varma's 'Bhoot Returns'.

Rani is hoping that the film does well at the box office as it will give her a chance to explore her favourite genre of romantic comedy further.

"'Aiyyaa' is important because if it works on a big scale, I get an opportunity to do more roles like this, tell different stories and portray different aspects of modern Indian woman. I call this film a feather in my cap, " she says.

Asked about being directed by Anurag Kashyap, Rani said, "Me and Anurag have been trying to on a script for a long time but fortunately or unfortunately 'Aiyyaa' came first, which he is producing. I have known him for long and we share a different equation. It would be great to be directed by him." After 'Aiyyaa' Rani will be seen in another intense role in Aamir Khan starrer 'Talaash'.


"It is third time that me and Aamir have come together for a film. I am very happy that my two films are releasing in a year within a gap of a month. These are two diametrically opposite characters." Rani, who started her Hindi cinema journey with 1997 film 'Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat', says she is happy to have the freedom to choose her roles.

"Every film is important for an actor. At every stage of your life there comes a time when you choose films and I have been doing it for a decade, not because any other reason but for my own. The success of an actor is when you get to choose what you want to do.

I am happy to pick up challenging roles for myself." The actress says she has started reading new scripts but nothing has been finalised so far.

"I am reading scripts but nothing has caught my attention so far. Selecting a film is a process, when something interesting comes up, I will jump into it."