Actress Suchitra Pillai has been making a mark with her roles in films for a long time now. To nudge your memory, she played Saif Ali Khan’s girlfriend Priya in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, and now as the movie has completed 20 years, Suchitra has a lot to share about it. She played a major role in it and for her this movie is very special.
As she shares: “It’s an absolutely fabulous feeling, because this is a film that is very close to my heart. It’s the first one where I played a major role and even 20 years later, you know this is still the film people remember me by. So, it’s definitely a wonderful feeling to be reminded year after year about ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. I will never complain about it.”
‘Dil Chahta Hai’ will be coming on August 10 on &Pictures to celebrate the iconic 20 years of this movie.
Pillai recalls playing the character of Priya, a very dominating and demanding girlfriend and how despite being completely opposite to her onscreen image, she can completely relate with it.
“I am totally opposite in relationships than her. I’m definitely not the kind of girlfriend who guys are scared of. But when I get angry and just start screaming and shouting, then there is absolutely no hope for the other person and I think in this way we both resemble each other,” she quips.
The 50-year-old actress reminisces on how the role was offered to her by director Farhan Akhtar and his confidence in Suchitra for bringing this character on screen.
She adds: “The role being offered to me is another story altogether, Farhan is a friend and when he had written DCH, he called me up and said, ‘Suchi, tu ek role kar rahi’, (you’re doing a role) and I was like, ‘huh’. He said, ‘no, there’s a role for you’. And I said, ‘wow, audition’ and he said, ‘no audition, I have decided that you are doing it’, which is like such a wonderful thing for any actor. Even a small role, written and directed by Farhan Akhtar can really keep you in people’s mind, 20 years down the road. It’s just as exciting if I were to be offered another role like this by Farhan a hundred per cent, I jumped at it.”
On sharing about the most memorable moment during her shooting days, she refers to her trip to Goa and all the fun she had on the beach.
Says Pillai: “I got to be part of all the fun and games by going to Goa. It was for a single scene jogging on the beach in Goa. And just for that scene, I got to go for a week. And it was just like a party, with everybody there and at the time, my best friend and her boyfriend et cetera, we had such a blast, so it was work and pleasure and fun altogether which happened so that was definitely nice one in memory, one good memory during the shoot for sure.”
