Gul Panag’s last venture, Hello Darling , in which she played the role of an earnest employee to a perverted boss, didn’t exactly have her fans asking for more. And if you were wondering what Gul was doing in a slapstick like ‘Hello Darling’, you are not alone.
“When I like a script, I don’t think of the reasons. I go with my gut instinct. But sometimes you go wrong, like with ‘Hello Darling’,” she rues. Gul explains further, “What was narrated to me was different; it was two different stories. When they narrated the story to me, I was told my character would be career-centric but there were other things that I wasn’t informed of…but if I look at my character myopically, selfishly, I can’t complain. I’m not looking crazy, my character isn’t looking bad,” she shrugs. With a hint of mischief she adds, “I’m a smart character, in a “different” film!”
But Gul isn’t blaming anyone or taking names. She understands that the makers of ‘Hello Darling’ too were under pressure from different sides. Even though Mukta Arts did not promote the film at the last moment, Gul still looks up to Subhash Ghai and “would give my right arm” to work with the esteemed director. Talk about Gul’s dance routine in the film and she winces, “You have no idea what I was going through during that scene!” It’s one of those things that she takes in her stride, “It’s my greed as an actor to widen the scope of my work,” she says.
Gul, who turned 31 recently, is looking forward to her next film, Turning 30, in which she plays an advertising executive dealing with heartbreak and a career crisis just before her 30th birthday. “It’s unapologetically women-centric. It’s a chick-flick like Bridget Jones’s Diary, ‘Lipstick Jungle’ & Sex and the City.” And what about the prospects of this chick-flick? She smiles and replies, “I will still believe in my gut instinct.”