MUMBAI: After the film about a woman who turns into a hooker to get even with the man who wronged her, here’s an even bigger shocker. Producer-director Vikram Bhatt is all set to make a film on the taboo subject of wife-swapping with the bold-and-the-uninhibited Rehana Sultan of this millennium Paoli Dam in the lead.
Vikram who has been researching on wife-swapping has some startling statistics on spouse-swapping. Says Bhatt, “Why do you say wife-swapping is taboo? You’d be surprised to know how many urban couples indulge in it.It’s prevalent,almost rampant in the big cities. Go on the internet. There are websites devoted to wife-swapping. That’s what we’ve come to. I want to explore the psychology of wife-swapping. How does a man tell his wife to go and sleep with his friend and how does the wife give consent to her husband’s sexual tryst with another woman? More importantly, how do the husband and wife look at each other in the eye the morning after? These are questions that haunt me.”
Refraining from commenting on Abbas-Mustan’s film ‘Ajnabee’ on wife-swapping, Vikram says he enjoyed Rajat Kapoor’s ‘Mixed Doubles’. “That was a light take on wife-swapping. Mine would be far more dark and probing.”
Vikram says he has chosen Paoli in the wife-swapping tale because of her lack of selfconsciousness before the camera. “Paoli has the courage to go beyond her body on camera. That’s where I want to go with Love Games.”
When asked about her sexually-charged roles and how it would impact her image and career in Bollywood Paoli Dam shrugged, “Love Games is another bold film, I agree. Vikram and I are working on my character. Rest assured I won’t be doing what I’m expected to. My character won’t resemble what I played in Hate Story.”
Refuting reports that her family and her boyfriend in Kolkata are exceedingly upset with her bare-dare act Paoli says, “First of all I am single. As far as my parents are concerned they don’t react. My Maa, Papua Dam is a music teacher. She used to be associated with NGOs in Kolkata. My father Aman Dam is an entrepreneur. He is a trekker and a photographer by hobby, hence my name Paoli. It’s the name of a mountain peak. My brother Mainak has just completed college.”
Apparently the entire Dam family is quite cool with the daughter of the family carving a curvaceously unorthodox career route for herself. As for wife-swapping Vikram says it goes back to our mythology. That doesn’t mean he’s making a mythological film on sharing more than just a hello with your friend’s wife.
