Mumbai: Pooja Batra was one of the most popular actresses of the late ‘90s. While on one hand, she was seen in the critically acclaimed ‘Virasat’ opposite Anil Kapoor, she also gained popularity for commercial potboilers like ‘Haseena Maan Jaayegi’, ‘Jodi No.1’ among others.
After a period of lull in the 2000s, the actress is back to doing films, starting off with 'ABCD 2' in 2015, 'One Under the Sun' and her latest film ‘Mirror Game.’
In an exclusive interview with DC, Pooja opens up about the way her career has gone so far, “I would’ve been happier had I got better offers. They say that films on women don’t sell. Actresses fall back, because they lack better scripts. But then if you have something like a ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Kahaani’, ‘NH 10’ or ‘Highway’ and if you’ve backed by a good script, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work.”
Being a former Miss India, Pooja was among the few actresses in ‘90s who was tall, slim and paid good attention to looking fit on screen.
On whether there was a pressure to look good during that time, Pooja says, “It is actually very personal. There were actresses like Tabu, who was tall, but she was much into fitness. I am very athletic, I like to exercise, some people think exercise is like torture, I am the opposite. There was no pressure from the industry. In fact, I had to wear two petticoats to look fat, getting the padding, to look like the quintessential Indian woman. In fact people would tell me to put on weight, complaining that I was too slim.”
About the actress from the current generation who reminds her about herself, Pooja says, “Deepika.”
The common factor between the two being their height. Pooja jokes, “Deepika is tall. I have set the stage for her. My height was a big hindrance and suddenly it’s not.”
She also reveals that she missed out on several films during her career because of her height. When prodded about which films, she says, “It is such a big list. Some actors are okay with working with a taller heroine and some are not. Anil Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Abhishek were all taller than me, it was just that there were shorter heroines then. That time everyone was short, now everyone is tall. Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta, Jacqueline Fernandez are all are tall. I have worked with Shraddha Kapoor who is also fairly tall."
Pooja Batra is playing the role of a psychologist in the June 2 release 'Mirror Game' and is paired opposite Parvin Dabas and Omi Vaidya in the film.
