'Dil Chahta Hai' was a brilliant film: Suchitra Pillai
In the 2001 film Dil Chahta Hai, Suchitra Pillai played the overbearing girlfriend Priya to Saif Ali Khan's Sameer, and the actor says her character was so well defined that people still remember her performance in that short role. In August, Dil Chahta Hai, a coming-of-age romantic drama, will turn 20 and Suchitra said working on the film was a wonderful experience.
Twenty years later many still see me as Priya: Suchitra
"Dil Chahta Hain was a brilliant film. Twenty years later I'm still seen by many as Priya. The girlfriend who girls wanted to be and the girlfriend that guys didn't want," Suchitra said. "It's about how well a character is defined in the work that you do. It can be a five-minute role and this is a case in point," she added.
Farhan personally asked Suchitra to play Priya
The actor, whose film credits include Page 3 and Fashion, said the then debutant director Farhan Akhtar asked her to play the role of Priya. "Farhan told me, 'Suchi, You have to do this role.' I was like what? He called me to the office and there was Saif Ali Khan. And he said, Oh, by the way, this is your co-star," Suchitra recounted.
Farhan did something unusual to check their chemistry
Suchitra recalled meeting with Saif. "Farhan asked both of us to stand together and start jogging on the spot. He wanted to see how both of us look together. It was for that scene on the beach," she said. In the film, Priya and Sameer eventually break up after which the latter is shown to have fallen for Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni).
Suchitra's latest film 'Cold Case' released on Wednesday
Asked whether Priya and Sameer would be on talking terms if they met today, Suchitra said, "They will definitely talk to each other and she will definitely say 'Oh God, how foolish of you. Who asked you to leave me?'" Suchitra's latest venture is the Malayalam film Cold Case, which released on Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday.
