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'We are not trying to produce a successful film'

On the sets of Gajagamini, Madhuri Dixit is a picture of poise and elegance, as she answers questions on her involvement with this unusual film.

How are you enjoying doing the film?

Well, it is something different that I am doing -- it is not like a typical commercial film. The subject, the characters I play, the treatment of the film, the visuals -- all these are going to be very, very different from the usual films.

You cannot slot this film. You can't say it is an arty film which has a very realistic charm. Nor is it a commercial Hindi film with a hero, a heroine, a love story, a triangle or whatever. For example, the dialogue does not mean quite what we are saying. It means a lot of other things as well. There is a lot of depth. There are a lot of things we are trying to say through this film. It is going to be a very metaphorical kind of a film.

What is the message in this film?

The film leaves a lot to individual interpretation. It's like a painting. Each one has his own interpretation about a painting.

We are not trying to preach anything or trying to make a statement. We have such beautiful and courageous women in our tradition -- in our literature and history. This film is about the ordinary woman's journey where she meets all these interesting women. We are entering a new millennium. Despite all this, in our culture, what is the Indian woman's status today? Do we still treat her the same way as before or are we going towards something better?

Are you targetting a mass audience?

Well, no. I think a mass audience could appreciate it because we have not made it a boring film where somebody is making a chappati and it just goes on and on! It moves. It has music, dance. We are trying to say something through all that. We are trying to create interesting visuals to say what we want.

Yet it is not a potboiler -- a triangle story or a revenge drama or any of that. it doesn't have the usual ingredients of violence and sex. It is very different. When you see it, you will know. I cannot explain it.

These days films are judged by success at the box office.

That is not on our minds. We are not trying to produce a successful film. Of course, everybody wants to make a successful film, but we are making something that Husainji wants to make or probably has dreamed of making. We are just putting his vision on celluloid.

Are you also contributing towards the film?

The basic idea is his. Of course since we are acting in it, we do contribute to it. We sit and discuss it -- even the dialogue. We are talking on one level but we are also saying a lot of other things. It is like your own interpretation of what that character is actually saying. It is very interesting and I am enjoying myself.

M F Husain has his say

Excerpted from New India Digest, with the publisher's kind permission. New India Digest is available from the India Digest Foundation, Sahyadri Sadan, Tilak Road, Pune 411 030. Annual subscription for India: Rs 195; for the US: $ 15.