Asin clarifies nixing biggies

Asin is celebrating Dabangg’s super success. No, she wasn’t a part of the blockbuster but is hoping Salman Khan’s recent success will rub off on their next movie, Ready, too. And it won’t go bust like their last musical, London Dreams. It is said that the 44-year-old hunk had recommended her to writer-director Anees Bazmee for the Hindi remake that was filmed in Sri Lanka.

“I had no idea,” she retorts. “I got a call from Bhushan Kumar of T-Series who’s producing the film. Since it’s a remake of a Telugu hit I knew about it and liked Anees bhai’s adaptation. So I took it on. End of the story.”

She insists that despite the action-packed title, Ready is a love story and will not be another Ghajini for her. “There’s plenty of scope to perform. Also, a film like this is important, as a commercial hit can help you reach out to a wider audience,” she reasons. For someone who moved into Bollywood with an Aamir Khan-starrer that is one of the biggest grossers ever, Asin surprisingly has only Ready in her kitty, after nixing Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey with Abhishek Bachchan and Vipul Shah’s remake of Kakha Kakha with John Abraham. She was replaced by Deepika Padukone and Genelia D’Souza in the said two films.

Asin says that she had to let both these biggies go because of date problems. “I respect Ashu sir (Gowarikar) and his wife Sunitaji, but I had already committed the dates they wanted to the Tamil film, Bodyguard,” she sighs, adding that eventually Bodyguard’s schedule was pushed ahead due to problems with hero Vijay’s dates.

Bodyguard was also responsible for her losing out on the Kakha Kakha remake. “Initially, it was to be directed by Gautam Menon who had done the original too. I’d played Maya in the Telugu version, so I know the character inside out. But then Nishikant Kamath stepped into the project and by the time he came back to me with the rewritten script, I had started shooting Bodyguard and didn’t have the dates. So Vipul, Nishi and I mutually agreed to let this pass. I didn’t refuse the film because of language or money problems as has been reported,” she reiterates.

Atul Agnihotri is producing a Hindi remake of Bodyguard with brother-in-law Salman Khan. He’s keen to sign on Katrina Kaif, but she’s reportedly too busy. If approached, will Asin take on the film given that she’s already doing the Tamil version? Asin says, “I believe Salman will start work on his Bodyguard after Ready. I can’t say anything now, we’ll cross the bridge when we reach it.”