Tusshar Kapoor is waiting to kiss Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture. He’s one of the three men who get ‘personal’ with her character, modelled on South star Silk Smitha. Ramakant is a writer who comes into his own after getting close to his screen idol. He loves her while the other guy, an ageing superstar (Naseeruddin Shah), lusts after her, and the third (Emraan Hashmi) hates her. Some of the intimate on-screen moments between the duo have already been canned but the lip-lock is yet to happen.
While admitting that kissing is never easy when you are in character because you have to “act and react”, Tusshar insists that he’s not nervous about it. “I’m cool, Vidya is the one who has the jitters since she has to initiate the kiss. She’s playing around with this guy, trying to arouse him and bring him closer. She’s the one doing all the hard work, I’m only at the receiving end,” he jokes.
He is all praise for his co-star who he insists has come up with a completely uninhibited performance. “She had to because Silk Smitha was a bold girl whose courage and confidence set her apart. And once the film releases, all those who were skeptical about Vidya pulling off the role will say she suited it to the T. There’s nothing typical about any of us in The Dirty Picture,” Tusshar asserts.
The film is set in the South film industry of the 1980s and he admits that his moustached look has aroused plenty of curiosity since the film’s first poster was unveiled a week ago. “My trainer told me that he was looking for me and was wondering where I was till he suddenly realised that, ‘Oh God, that’s Tusshar, right there, near Vidya!’” he laughs.
The speculations about whom he resembles have grown since the teaser was unveiled. The actor admits that some see bits of Nagarjuna in him, and some his dad, Jeetendra, from his Maang Bharo Sajna and Ek Hi Bhool days.
“Actually we didn’t mould the character on any particular actor. Milan (director Milan Luthria) didn’t want me to get too loud and exaggerated in my body language so I was refrained from watching too many South movies. They wanted to bring me as I am on screen but may be the hair, moustache and just the general appearance makes people see shades of dad in me,” Tusshar reasons.
“There was a simplicity to dad’s characters in these films made in the South, many of which I’d seen being shot when we’d fly down to spend weekends with him. No complains if they see parallels.”
