Ameesha Patel Reacts To Her Absence From Bollywood: 'It's Making Very Forgettable Films' | Exclusive

Ameesha Patel was last seen in Bhaiaji Superhit five years back. But releases have been far and few for her even before 2018. With Bhaiaji Superhit, Ameesha returned to the movies five years after Race 2 and Shortcut Romeo (both released in 2013). And now, as she awaits the theatrical release of Gadar 2 on August 11, she exclusively tells News18 that she hopes for more offers to come her way so that she doesn’t have to stay away from the movies for a long time. “I hope that post Gadar 2, lots of good opportunities come my way,” she says.

So, what has kept her away from the screens? “You need to ask producers, directors and actors as to what’s keeping me away from doing more films,” she says with a laugh. She goes on to elaborate, “It’s very difficult to match up with the opportunities that I’ve had with Humraaz (2002), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) or even Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd (2007). At that time, films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd didn’t exist. Farhan Akhtar’s production house Excel Entertainment had the vision to start a new kind of cinema.”

Ameesha points out that though she has largely worked in mainstream films, she has proved her mettle with a varied kind of roles. Talking about how she wishes for good scripts to be written again, she tells us, “I’ve always ventured out and taken risks and challenges. I’ve done the typical commercial cinema but also done different kinds of roles within that space. I hope that happens again soon where people actually write good films.”

The Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) and Aap Ki Khatir (2006) actor rues the dearth of good Hindi films in the last few years. Hoping for the good times to return so that actors can prove themselves, she remarks, “Currently, we see films but we don’t see good writing in them. In the past couple of films, there have been some very forgettable films that have happened in Bollywood. And not only me but I think every actor is also looking forward to doing something that they can chew on and sink their teeth into, which is a very rare thing now.”

However, she is elated to be a part of Gadar 2 and can’t wait for the film to release. It is a sequel to Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), which released 22 years back, and will see her reprising the character of Sakeena. Sharing her experience of shooting for Gadar 2, Ameesha says, “It felt as if we had all frozen in time. In fact, when we had the mahurat shot and I had posted a picture of me and Sunny (Deol) on Instagram, the producers in Mumbai started getting calls as to why I’m posting old pictures from Gadar. They told them it’s a picture from the shoot of Gadar 2 and that it has gone on floors. They were like, ‘Oh my god!’”

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For Ameesha, working on Gadar 2 felt like ‘going back home’. Not just Sunny and herself but the sequel has the same cinematographer, writer, producer and director as Gadar. Hence, it didn’t take her time to slip under the skin of her character. “Everything was so familiar. There’s some magic when Sunny and I wear the costumes of Tara and Sakeena. It’s a very beautiful feeling. We don’t need to work very hard on our body language and characters, it just comes naturally. Tara and Sakeena are very hard to match up in our respective careers. They flow in our blood,” she remarks.

Ameesha further adds, “I don’t think we did a lot of sittings with our director (Anil Sharma). We just went on set and were in our characters. That was the beauty. We felt like we’ve been living these characters for the past 20 years. We worked so hard for Gadar that the characters become in-built within us. So, yes, it was a lovely experience.”