Can you tell us a little bit about the film 'Rang Rasiya'?

The film does work on a number of different levels. It is really an amazing story of courage, story of a painter and his growth. It's an aching beautiful love story, a classical romance about a painter and his muse. 'Rang Rasiya' is also a woman's story along the side who grows up from a child to a beautiful lady who does not believe from within and how the painter opens up the world of beauty for her.

What is your character in the film?

I play the role of Sugandha. A fabulously fearless, courageous and committed woman. For me to play the character of Sugandha was a real pleasure because she has various different sides to her. She is an ultimate child woman. She is as playful, as innocent and hungry for love as any child is and at the same time she is as passionate and brave and loving and generous. She is a real trend-setter. The steps that she takes to uphold the importance of creative freedom was really un-heard of at that time and she breaks a lot of rules in her limited world and steps out of the boundaries that had been set for her, and ultimately she pays a very heavy price for that.

What kind of preparation you had to go to essay the character of Sugandha?

There were three sources of preparation for me to essay this character. The first was a great deal of conversation and extensive discussion with the director, Ketan Mehta who had interpreted this character from the novel and from history into this screenplay. The second was from the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and as it turns out that I have been familiar with from the time I was really young. It was amazingly coincidence that when Ketan Mehta and Deepa Sahi came to me to play this character, they were very surprised to see two large sized paintings of Raja Ravi Varma in my house.

What do you think about the film 'Rang Rasiya?

I don't think in the history of Indian Cinema there has ever been a film like this which is as brave, as convinced about the message it has, which is as moving in terms of emotional drama in it. So all together I think, 'Rang Rasiya' is an extraordinary film.