Pooja Sawant Interview : Cheater is a lovely horror comedy

Pooja Sawant is one of the most glamorous face of Marathi industry. Since her debut in Kshanbhar Vishranti in 2010, Pooja is seen in various films and dance reality TV shows. An enchanting smile, good dancing skills and a complete diva material Pooja is really excited about her upcoming “Cheater” where she is paired against Vaibhav Tattwawadi. Marathistars.com spoke with Pooja about this film and her role.

Here are the excerpts from this interview.

Can you please tell us about your role in the film Cheater?

In this film I am playing role of a girl called Mimo. That is her pet name and everybody from the family adores her. Basically she is from a rich family of Mauritius, but her grandmother (played by Suhas Joshi) wants her to get good Indian Sanskar and hence sends to Pune for further education. She is a psychology student. In Pune, I meet this conman cheater played by Vaibhav. He falls in love with me and he comes to Mauritius along with me. Hrishikesh Joshi and Asawari Joshi are playing role of my parents. This is a lovely horror comedy. Though this is a comedy film, the element of horror is also very important in this story. It is a completely family oriented film.

In this film, Vaibhav has donned a completely new avatar. What do you think of his character?

Looking cool and confident was the basic requirement for his role, but he was worried about being loud. He used to ask me whether he is being gaudy as he has never done such type of roles. I always told him that you should leave that Coffeewala serious look behind and be happy with this new avatar. He was constantly asking the director about whether he was overacting. However, everybody on the sets used to convince him that he is going on the right track. He is a cheater from Pune so he has to look very overconfident, brash and street-smart. His persona should portray that he is pretty sure that he will never get caught. While shooting Vaibhav explored this character beautifully and as the promos are suggesting, people love his new cool avatar.

Ajay Phansekar is directing after gap of so many years. How was your experience working with him?

Ajay has done such a brilliant films like Ratra Arambh, Encounter, Ramchandra Purushottam Joshi. He has taken a gap of so many years as he was working on the scripts. During shoot breaks, he used to narrate us stories from his research. He traveled at various places to write his scripts and do the research. After so many years, he is coming with this new film. After Cheater he has lined up many projects. This is more like a comeback for him.

You are mostly known for your glamorous roles. What is your though process behind your looks and costumes?

This has to be done according to requirement of the role. I have done a completely deglamourized role for Nilkanth Master because that was the prerequisite of the script. I prefer personally discussing with the stylists and costume designer about my look. I get involved in the process of designing the look as well as selecting the costumes and the makeup. This helps me to know my character very well and also I get to know what I will be wearing for every scene. I pay attention to these details, so I am ready before the film goes on the floor.

You are a fabulous dancer. Have you learnt dancing?

Dance is my god-gift. I have never learnt any classical dance, but I enjoy dancing and I am passionate about it. I love live performances as they give lots of positive energy. However, I make sure that I don’t overdo it. I don’t want to see myself performing in each and every event or the award show. I have to be selective about the events so my performances remain fresh and interesting.

What are your criteria for choosing a film?

Choosing films I don’t have any boundaries. I want to different type of cinema. For the length of the role does not matter, but the importance of that role in the story matters. For Nilkanth Master, I was given an option to select between the two female leads. Lengthwise other character had more scenes, but Indu had less scenes. After reading the script, I decided to do Indu because she is more promising and I could identify myself with that character.

Marathi films are doing really well on the box office. What do you think about it?

This is a golden era for Marathi cinema. I am think I am blessed because I am getting an opportunity to work in this scenario. When the future generation will look back they will take my name as a part of this era. Now we are promoting our films vigorously. We are getting box office collection in crores. This is a great achievement for Marathi film fraternity as well as for Marathi audience. It encourages filmmakers to keep experimenting and make good films.

What is your fitness Mantra?

I love to dance and that keeps me fit. I also do yoga regularly. Other than that I don’t follow any strict regime for my fitness. I eat everything because I love food.