I am still on the hunt for good roles

She is famed for her cherubic face or the winner of a Miss India title but hardly her days in acting are definitely not something to be written about. At least, not yet.
Not that Gul Panag has any issues with that. “I don’t want to be in cinema just for the sake of it. In fact, I don’t want to be so many other actors who I overhear regretting being part of a certain film. I want to be proud of my work. I don’t want to make a film that I will hate watching after a year or two,” she says.
In the city to promote her film, Dor, she seems proud of her work already. “The character I play is that of an intelligent, independent yet innocent girl. She potrays a myriad of emotions in the film and I have to say it was tough,” says Gul who plays a girl from Himachal Pradesh who travels to Rajasthan to look for a woman who can save her husband’s life.
“Every day when I walked up to the sets, I would wonder if I could do justice to my character. I was so scared I wondered how I would make it through the film. Thankfully, Nagesh came to my rescue. He knew every shot and ensured I gave my best throughout.”
The reason for doing Kukunoor’s film, says Gul, was the brilliantly etched out character. “I always go by the role that I play. I have very little experience so I have to work very hard in getting into the skin of the character.”
Back in Delhi, where she was raised, she says she feels suffocated. “In the years that I have lived in Mumbai, I have realised how little freedom women in Delhi get. Freedom is not about walking down the streets in mini-skirts and tank tops, it is about how secure you feel walking down any street even in a salwar-kurta.”
She has more reasons to be happy in Mumbai. “I will be working in an emotional film, Ali Bagh later this year and for the rest, I am still on the hunt for good roles.”

Published in Hindustan Times Next on September 23, 2006