Pooja Bhatt to make acting comeback after 15 years

Actor in hopes of challenging stereotypes, set to play role of alcoholic mother

The Bollywood actor, who was last seen in Rahul Bose's 2001 film Everybody Says I'm Fine, will be making her acting comeback with father Mahesh Bhatt's, film after a 15 year hiatus.

In a recent interview with Times of India, Pooja Bhatt revealed that her father convinced her to face the camera again.

"He looked at me with manic eyes and told me, 'I've got a story for you.' It's a gift from a father to his daughter and will celebrate my insanity," she said Pooja.



The 43-year-old actor-turned-filmmaker, who has given 90s hits such as Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi, Zakhm, Chaahat among many others, shared that she is really excited yet terrified about her comeback.

"I'm wildly excited because there's not enough representation of women of a certain age in our cinema today. Roles were more powerful 20-30 years ago. Today the female characters are asexual, dead, with no charm," said Pooja.

PHOTO: FILE

She further shared her excitement saying, "It's Daddy (her debut film) again, life's brought this opportunity, I'll open my arms wide and embrace it. Bring it on!"



The story revolves around a swinging actor who has an illegitimate child. She doesn't want to compromise on the limelight at the peak of her career and therefore gives her child away to a caretaker. She eventually suffers from depression and gets consumed by alcoholism.

Sharing her views on the intense subject of the film, Pooja said,
"In most societies, and particularly ours, a man who has abandoned his child is given a second chance. But if it's the mother who has disowned her baby, she is seen as evil, an aberration. We want to change that.



"Alcohol is another vice an Indian woman can't own up to. We are going to break that taboo too in our film. It's a heartbreaking human story that gave me gooseflesh I had not felt in years," she added.

The script of the untitled film is still under works.