Debutant, who plays a drunkard in her next, draws inspiration from the veteran actress' classic act

Meena Kumari has inspired many actresses and the latest to join the bandwagon is Elena Kazan. The Bollywood newbie with German- Russian roots is apparently inspired by the well-known actress' act in Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam to get the nuances of a drunkard right.

Elena, who made her debut with Agent Vinod, will be seen next opposite Randeep Hooda in Solomon Ahishor's directorial debut. Her character in the film is of a depressed Iranian girl who takes respite in alcohol. And turns out she had seen Guru Dutt's 1962 classic during her stay in United States where she used to rent a lot of Hindi film DVDs. That's also when she happened to pick up the language as well.


On being contacted, Elena says she wanted to go back and watch the film once again and that's exactly what she did. `When this particular role came my way, I went back to the film to get into the character. I don't think I can copy her but she inspires me a lot,` adds Elena.

Tipple trouble
Once considered an arena exclusive to male actors, more and more actresses are seen swigging away on the big screen nowadays. Here's a list of some of those in recent times...

Vidya Balan (The Dirty Picture):

Vids not only got drunk but also smoked in this National Award-winning film. The character she portrayed fights depression and the liquor only made things worse for her.

Kareena Kapoor (3 Idiots):

Bebo enters Aamir Khan's room in Bollywood highest grossing film of all time and expresses her love for him with some funny dialogues. However, the best supporting actor is the bottle of alcohol in her hand.

Priyanka Chopra (Anjaana Anjaani):

Piggy Chops fails at suicide and hence decides to compensate her life by guzzling everything from beer to vodka throughout this film set in USA.

Deepika Padukone (several movies):

In her past few films, Deepika have turned into a pro at effortlessly getting drunk and then forcing others to dance with her in a crowded discotheque!