MUMBAI: Soha Ali Khan’s career path has seen some ups and downs, but the lady has never been tormented by the fate of her films. We caught up with the royal beauty at a recording studio in the suburban locality of Andheri, in Mumbai; where she revealed to us just how excited she is about her upcoming film ‘Midnight’s Children’.
Having taken an off-beat track, in some ways similar to her brother Saif Ali Khan, Soha is gung-ho about her casting in Deepa Mehta’s film ‘Midnight’s Children’, which is based on Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize winning novel of the same name. Soha’s fascination with straddling both commercial, mainstream cinema and arthouse cinema is evident from her choice in roles so far, and she tells us that ‘Midnight’s Children’ was actually a bit of both.
Soha was also appropriately pleased about sharing screen space with Satya Bhabha in the film. She reveals that besides acclaimed Canadian director Deepa Mehta, the real reason she chose to sign on the dotted line was the book itself.
Soha candidly revealed: “I had made up my mind that I wanted to be a part of this film in any capacity even when I didn’t know what Deepa would offer me.” And Soha was more than happy to learn that she would play the part of Jamila (protagonist Saleem Sinai’s sister); a part that was one of her favourites in the book.
Said an excitable Soha, “I was quite happy that I got to play a part that I really liked. I was very happy, I thought, ‘Oh that’s great’ because she is young and she’s beautiful! Then of course she sings and dances a lot.”
Soha also couldn’t help gushing about the book, which she considered her all-time favourite: “It’s been one of my all time favourite book. I have always found Midnight’s Children very intriguing. There is a backdrop of India-Pakistan conflict, the fragmentation of the country and the problems within the ruling party of the time. It’s a clever book and the parallels drawn between Saleem’s life and state of the country are brilliant.”
