Much appreciated ‘Ghajini’ star Asin shifting base to Mumbai
With several Bollywood projects in hand, southern beauty Asin Thottumkal is moving lock, stock and barrel to Mumbai from Chennai and has almost finalised a house in Bandra. What’s more, her parents have given up their jobs to look after their talented daughter’s flourishing career.
“I’ve been travelling non-stop. I had no time to look around and find a place. But now we’re finalising a place in Bandra. Hopefully, by new year I’ll lock in to the place. Right now we feel a little unsettled. In Mumbai, you desperately need your own home,” Asin, who made her Hindi film debut with the just released “Ghajini”, told reporters.
Asin’s parents have moved from Chennai to Mumbai with her.
“Both of them gave up their jobs to be with me. Mom is a doctor. She has taken voluntary retirement. She manages my home now. And dad had seven business enterprises. He gave them up to look after my career. Right now I’m quite a handful and worth more than all his business ventures,” she laughs delightedly.
Asin, who is a fun-loving and loves to talk, admits she was asked to keep quiet till “Ghajini” hits the screen. Directed by AR Murugadoss and produced by Allu Arvind, the film starring Aamir Khan in main lead was released Friday.
“The marketing team felt that I should maintain a distance from the press until the film’s release. However, that didn’t stop speculative write-ups about me. I read things about myself that I didn’t know,” she said.
Like feeling insecure about her co-star Jiah Khan?
“Is that really me? I’ve worked in South Indian films with female co-stars and never felt insecure. I worked with Nayantara in the Tamil ‘Ghajini’ without any conflict. Why would I feel threatened by Jiah?
“Was this a publicity strategy? It was being implied that I was somehow responsible for keeping Jiah out of the publicity. I don’t know how one heroine can influence a huge marketing strategy,” she said.
Jiah and Asin have no scenes together. “But we have of course met and we’re very cordial with one another. We got along fine. I’ve had no fights with anyone in Tamil or Hindi cinema so far. All these stories of friction make me feel strange.”
Asin also denies reports that she was under contract with the “Ghajini” makers.
“I’m under no contract. Didn’t I sign ‘London Dreams’ while ‘Ghajini’ was being shot? If I haven’t signed another film, it’s because I haven’t come across anything exciting. I was supposed to do Priyadarshan’s film with Akshay Kumar, but that clashed with promotional dates of ‘Ghajini’,” Asin said.
She will be moving into her new home in Bandra in January.
“But even without my own home I feel at home in Mumbai. For one almost the entire unit of ‘Ghajini’ was south Indian. Most of them were people I had worked with. So we were constantly chattering on the sets in Tamil or Telugu. Except, of course, Aamir who was new to all of us.”
“London Dreams” was much tougher.
“The total crew was totally Bollywood. So practically speaking ‘London Dreams’ is my first Bollywood experience. ‘Ghajini’ was easier than my second Hindi film ‘London Dreams’ where I had to start from scratch with the character. In ‘Ghajini’, my character remained untampered except the language. Here I was speaking Hindi instead of Tamil. Otherwise no changes,” said Asin whose Hindi has always been good and she doesn’t require any dubbing.
How different is Aamir from Salman Khan?
“While Aamir mulls overs scenes, Salman must be prepared from beforehand because you don’t see him rehearse on the sets. But everyone in Mumbai is thoroughly professional.”