Neetu Chandra says she hasn’t really showed the world what she can do yet.
The Indian actress, who launched her Bollywood career with the Priyadarshan movie Garam Masala, has featured in movies such as Traffic Signal, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Rann. However, in the past few years, she has been absent from the movie scene — something she attributes to a rocky personal life. “I lost my father four years ago. He was suffering from cancer. So in a way, I was also focusing on my family. I have a production house, and one of our productions, Mithila Makhaan, even won a [Indian] National Award. I have done a Greek film. So yes, I am working towards quality stuff, but unfortunately, not a lot of offers came my way.”
“I surely deserve to be in a Shah Rukh Khan- or a Salman Khan-starrer film. But my talent has not been utilised in the cinema properly. “Since I do not come from a film family and have no Godfather, of course, my journey is slow, but steady,” she said.
Chandra recently featured in Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s music video for Banjarey. Incidentally, she entered showbiz with another music video, Mera Babu Chhail Chhabila, followed by Sajna Hai Mujhe.
When asked about the recent video, Chandra said: “Firstly, I loved the song, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a great singer. After listening to the song for the first time, I kept it on a loop, and the melody was growing on me.
“It was a coincidence that Shruti Vora, who directed the video, was the co-director of my first video, Mera Babu ..., where she took my audition and guided me throughout to act well in the video. I didn’t know anything that time because I was as young as 16 years old. So when I got to know that she will be directing this one, for me, it was such an exciting moment to collaborate with her.
“I loved the whole experience of shooting the video.”
Chandra thinks Bollywood’s impression of her is incorrect. “I have done some Tamil films and people started thinking that I have settled in the south. It is wrong. I know visibility matters in today’s time, especially the way business of cinema is changing. Earlier, I had no team to present me, to make my work visible to the film fraternity. Thankfully, now I have one.
“I am open to work with any filmmaker, anywhere — be it Bollywood or Hollywood. I just hope the offers come my way,” said the anchor of the DD National music show Rangoli.
With most young people choosing to watch web shows and satellite channels, why did she go with state broadcaster, she said: “I think the closer to your roots you are, the global you go ... Because we, are living in a global village.”
