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Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan's "new appeal" and "mature" looks helped her bag "Tum Mile", says Kunal Deshmukh.

"I needed someone like Soha who has the looks that still have a new appeal despite being in the film industry, but could also bring in some maturity to her character. I did not need a newcomer and hence it was my idea to cast her for 'Tum Mile', " Deshmukh told in a telephonic interview from Mumbai.

"In fact, it was for this reason that I cast her opposite Emraan (Hashmi) and it has turned out to be a brilliant casting. She's done her job very well and I am so happy to have roped her in the project, " he added.

"Tum Mile" is a romantic movie about a couple stuck in the July 26, 2005, Mumbai deluge.

Co-produced by Sony Music and Vishesh Films, "Tum Mile" is Deshmukh's second directorial venture after "Jannat".

"We needed to recreate the deluge and had to shoot in water for over 12 hours a day for 'Tum Mile', but rather than throwing tantrums, Soha showed exemplary levels of energy on the sets, " said Deshmukh.

"Soha was like GI Joe (military-themed action figure). She didn't get tired at all and never stopped. She kept on working. She is one of those who would never give up, " he added.

Deskhmukh feels that Soha, who has appeared in films like "Rang De Basanti", "Mumbai Meri Jaan" and "Ahista Ahista", is yet to get her due in the Hindi film industry.

"She has been very good in her career so far and is getting better. She is an extremely talented actress. Unfortunately, she hasn't got a great role yet to show her skills but eventually she will, " he said.

"Tum Mile" is tentatively slated for release on July 24.

Forget mindless blood and gore, PNC's next horror-cum-psychological fare, Accident, will really send a chill down your spine and keep you on the edge of the seat.

Produced by Pritish Nandy and Rangita Nandy, the film stars Shiney Ahuja, Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Dev and others.

The cinematography is by Abhik Mukherjee of (Bunty Aur Bubli and Chokher Bali fame); The Accident is a 'classic psychological horror film, which shows the deterioration of a woman’s mind'.

The film is about a couple moving from California to India, and meeting with an accident soon after. The woman loses her child, creating an emotional rift between the couple. Life takes an eerie turn after they move to a certain bungalow

. There on, the condition of the girl's mind deteriorates... or does it really? Or are supernatural powers at play? As director Abhijit Chaudhuri aka Dadu (the renowned ad film maker in the league of Sudhir Mishra and Anurag Basu) puts it, "The Accident is horror in the tradition of The Tenant.

It is more a mind game than a blood-fest. Scary and freezing because the fear is immediate and palpable." Soha seconds this thought, as she says, "It (the film) has an international quality to it... As the film progresses, it will keep the audiences guessing."

Well, another reason why the film is in news is because of some intimate scenes between Soha and Shiney.

The duo has shared the screen in Khoya Khoya Chand earlier. Soha refutes that there are too many intimate scenes or too much intimacy in them.

She says that there isn't a lovemaking scene, as such, and there are only silences and shadows. Though the actress has no qualms about doing such scenes, she admits to drawing a line if she is not comfortable.

Lately, media has been speculating about the completion of the film and when we contacted the Mr. Ram Kamal Mukherjee, Vice President, Pritish Nandy Communications, he added, "We have completed more than 90% shoot of the film.

We need to shoot just three to four more days. The scenes would require Soha Ali Khan and Shiney Ahuja. We will be shooting the solo Soha scenes and other patch works first.

Once we get fresh dates from Shiney Ahuja we shall resume the shoot and wrap up the film."

When asked about the reports published in various websites and news agency that the fate of the film is undecided, Mr Mukherjee added, "Certainly not. The film is almost complete and we would release it whenever we are ready with it.

It's a new kind of cinema, a treatment which is not seen on Indian celluloid. Moreover I am very confident about the fact that people will get to see a talented filmmaker like Abhijit Choudhuri and writer Arindam Mitra.

Horror films will get a different definition with The Accident." So, the audiences need to get ready to get spooked out.

Soha Ali Khan is someone whose mere smile electrifies the entire silver screen. Even though she has been around in the tinsel town for sometime now, she making her way to the place where she rightly belongs- the Top! Soha will now be seen in the comedy Dhoondte Reh Jaoge in which she is paired opposite Kunal Khemu. The film also stars Sonu Sood, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever and Asrani.

We caught up with the young actress for an exclusive interview where she spoke about doing "quality" films, the challenge of doing comedy and her love for journalism.

To start with, these days, the silver screen is seeing very less of the golden actress called Soha Ali Khan. Is that a conscious decision?
Hey! That's so untrue. I had two releases in the last year and have four lined up for this year. The idea is not to do too many films. I would prefer doing quality films over the quantity ones! You don't get the right kind of script pretty often.

You don't get the right kind of script that convinces you totally. I would much rather watch a film or maybe hang out with my friends, instead of doing a film in which I am not 100% involved in.

How are you feeling now? Nervous or excited with DRJ's release being just around the corner?
For any actor, it's pretty natural to be both excited and nervous, so am I! I try not to think about it. There's no point worrying too much.

You don't want to put your heart in the line as you will only land up being dejected, if the audiences do not reject the film. For any film that I do, I give my 100% and after that, I do not think about the film. But I will want to know what the audiences think of the film!

What's your role in the film?
I am playing someone very unlikely in the film. And I don't think that I have ever played a character is called Neha Chattopadhyay, someone who is so far removed from my personality.

My character is that of someone who is into street-theater and who stays in a chawl with her mama. Every time she gets nervous, she breaks into Bengali as she cannot speak Hindi that fluently.

How much of your role in the film do you identify with?
The dream that I share with her is that of becoming a Hindi film heroine. But the kind of film that they go on to make is something that I have never been a part of.

What's the film all about and what's your role in the film?
The film is more of a spoof, whereby we are spoofing from all the films from Sholay to Lagaan. With due respect to everyone, you can see me playing Basanti of Sholay, Simran of DDLJ, Ameesha of Gadar to name a few!

A very impromptu question. While 'playing' the roles all the leading heroines in one film, did you, at any point feel a particular role should have been offered to you?
Actually speaking, these roles are absolute landmark roles and have been such brilliantly played by the respective actors that I just cannot imagine the role of Simran being played by anyone but Kajol, Basanti by Hemaji, so on and so forth!

Maybe when we interview any of the Gen-Next actress a few years down, your fans must be hoping that they will say that DRJ was a landmark film and that Soha's role was something that cannot be imagined being played by someone else! What say?
Thank you sooooo much for the compliment!

Your last film Dil Kabaddi was a comedy whereby you shared the screen space with Payal Rohatagi and in Dhoondte Reh Jaoge, its Deepal Shaw. Does that mean that you are open for multi-heroine roles?
In Dil Kabaddi, it was an ensemble cast, were various characters were etched out for those roles. I like mine amongst all of them. As far as Dhoondte Reh Jaoge, it has a number of characters. I was initially a bit apprehensive about doing this role.

But it was a kind of film which I felt that I might land up regretting of not having done it. The good thing about this film is that though they have multiple characters, I am the only girl. While all the prime characters like Pareshji, Kunal Khemu, and Sonu Sood have well-etched roles, I am the only girl amongst the entire lot.

There must have been lots of memorable moments during the shoot of the film? Pease share some with us.
Since I haven't done any comedy before, this film had its memorable moments in terms of each and every frame.

Furthering what you just said, since you have worked on both the genres (comedy and serious roles), which of the two do you find tougher?
You get a lot of dialogues when you are doing a comedy. It also requires a certain amount of comic timing. For me, it's more challenging than doing serious roles. Because, when you are doing serious roles, you tend to get lots of help in terms of lighting, music etc...

What were the locations wherein the film was shot?
The chawl that we shot in Worli is a natural chawl in itself. There are lots of Mumbai places whereby we have shot the film. All in all, it's all a Mumbai-centric film! We have shot a few songs in Malaysia.

How was it working with Kunal Khemu as your co-star?
He is a seasoned actor. He, alongwith Paresh Rawal, has done theatre before. I really don't know if they have worked together before this film. Both of them form the highlight of the film. The film will work because of Kunal and Paresh. They, according to me are the lead pair of the film!

At one point, you wanted to be a journalist. So, what's it about the journo's job that you like the most?
I feel that my skills lie in my research. I enjoy reading the papers. I think that journalism is a great profession.

What will form your next set of films?
There's 99 which is an action comedy, followed by Tera Kya Hoga Johnny and Kunal Deshmukh's Tum Mile with Emraan Hashmi.

Lastly, can you give us three reasons for the cine goers to watch DRJ?
There's the storyline, great performances and superb comedy! One needs to just go and watch this film for sure.

Actress Soha Ali Khan, who boasts of a strong educational background and sound work experience in the corporate world, has no qualms in saying that actresses in Bollywood are smarter and more intelligent than their male counterparts.

"I think the female actors are far more intelligent than the male actors. I think it's a misnomer to say that actresses are not smart and I think they are deeply in touch with emotions, " Soha told.

Soha, who belongs to the family of the erstwhile Nawabs of Pataudi, attended the British School here before graduating from Oxford University. She then pursued a masters degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She then worked for the New York-based Ford Foundation and later joined global financial service provider Citibank. Only after that did she venture into the world of Bollywood with "Dil Maange More" in 2004.

Soha, who rose to prominence with "Rang De Basanti", "Khoya Khoya Chand" and more recently "Mumbai Meri Jaan", said actresses had to be smart to manage their career and strike a balance between their public and personal life.

"We do have very intelligent actresses in our country. They are all very capable, smart and managing their professions very well, " she said.

According to her, it is important for actresses to be vigilant all the time due to the multiple and often complicated aspects of their lives.

"There is media, glamour, travelling, managing private and public life - it's difficult and now there's a business angle to films as well. Now it's not just about the art, it's about how you package your image and how you sell a film, your choices of films - and it's all quite unforgiving.

"If you make too many mistakes, there are far too many people who will be ready to do the job and you'll be replaced at the blink of an eye. I think it requires a huge amount of intelligence to be an actor, " Soha added.

The self-effacing director started his career with a Marathi film Dombivli Fast in 2005 which was about a common man losing his patience in the melee of routine jolts and humiliations.

It quickly became one of Marathi cinema's moder classaics, spawning a Tamil version and soon a Hindi adaptation too. Kamat's new film Mumbai Meri Jaan tracing trauma after the train blasts on July 11, 2006 is undoubtedly one of the finest socio-political messages delivered through the cinematic medium in recent times. Kamat chats with Subhash K Jha

There's a spate of films including your Mumbai Meri Jaan on different aspects of terrorism. Do you see that as a heatlhy sign?
I see that as a sign of the times. We're going through very troubled times. Cinema is meant to be reflect contemporary reality. All these films on terrorism coming together is just a bizarre not a bazaar coincidence.

My idea behind making Mumbai Meri Jaan is to show how people survive a personal tragedy. I was more interested in the characters than the tragedy of the train blasts.

The footage showing the blasts is palpable?
I recreated the blasts rather than using news footage. It took me 15 days to shoot the blasts scenes. By coincidence all my three films so far have trains as a backdrop.

I don't think I'll make another film with trains at the backdrop for another ten years. That the blasts happened in trains was a grim fact I had to incorporate in my film. I did a lot of technical research about the locations and timings of the blast. Beyond that everything in Mumbai Meri Jaan is fictional.

Yes, the characters are made up. But I'm sure a lot of people went through the same emotions after the blasts. I haven't experienced any of the things shown in my film. But I'm sure they've happened to people. I lived with my characters for two years. They drained me emotionally. I don't know when I'm going to direct again.

Of the characters in film which one do you identify with the most?
The one played by Madhavan. Like him I'm proud to be an Indian. But when a tragedy like a bomb blasts happens it shakes your faith in the nation.

I came very close to the 1993 Mumbai blasts. I passed close by to where one of the blasts occurred. That traumatized me and I've poured my heart out into Madhavan's character. He expresses the fears that I felt 15 years ago when the blasts happened. I feel any act of extremism over a city causes the anthill effect.

A stone hits the anthill, the ants are traumatized. But they immediately get to rebuilding their anthill.

Neeraj Pandey who has directed another film on terrorism A Wednesday says when we talk of the resilience of the Mumbayites after every attack we're only looking for another word for acceptance out of compulsion.
That's partly true. We're truly tolerant. After each attack the people feel helpless. But Mumbaiyites do have the inner strength to bounce back. I really don't have the answers. I've only put across the problem in Mumbai Meri Jaan.

A lot of the credit for the authenticity of my film goes to Yogesh Doshi for his colloquial dialogues. I was not sure whether the episodic format of filmmaking was going to work in this film.

Episodic films haven't worked in Hindi cinema so far?
I was aware of that. It was a new style of narration fo me.A lot of people wanted to know why I was doing five stories in one film. But these five characters had to have their say.

The script chose the actors. Every actor from Paresh Rawal to Soha Ali Khan said yes when they read the script. Writing the script took nine months, casting just took one month. I knew KayKay Menon and Irrfan from the time I worked with them on television ten years ago.

For them too it was the script. And thank God for such dedicated actors in our cinema. Otherwise a film like Mumbai Meri Jaan can never be made. I'm deeply honoured to have worked with such a great bunch of actors. Paresh Rawal is an institution.KayKay has a great eye for detail.

Irrfan 's understanding of a character is incomparable.Soha Ali Khan pushed herself beyond the edge. And Madhavan didn't have to act at all.

Why do you think it didn't get a large audience?
I've no clue. I don't think about the boxoffice when I make a film. I just make what I have to without considering the consequences. It's been a strange but enriching journey for me, from Marathi to Tamil (which I didn't know a word of ) to Hindi. I hope the journey continues to make me a wiser and better director.