An arranged marriage wouldn't work for me-Bipasha Basu

Dimples flashing, her skin a bur nished gold, Bipasha Basu, looks gorgeous and refreshed after a long vacation from the studios. The actress admits that her manager sure is happy to see her back at work, but in another six months, she would want a break again.

“If I were born with a diamond spoon in my mouth, every day would be a holiday,“ she laughs, quick to point out that while she's a good daughter and a good friend, along with being a responsible actress, every once in a while, there is the need to break away from the daily routine and do things she likes. “Yes, in between I lost myself and fell into a pattern, but to have a timetable for every day of my life sounds claustrophobic. I can't plan for more than a month at a time,“ she shudders.

Fortunately for Bipasha, she is not tied down to an office desk but has an exciting job that takes her to different parts of the globe and she gets to meet different people. “I like acting too as I realised after I drifted into it. But every time stagnancy sets in, I run,“ she says.

She doesn't just run, she chronicles her fun trips with posts and pictures on Instagram, which have made her the envy of colleagues. Her motto is simple: She works for a living but she refuses to make work her life. “I make more than enough to enjoy the luxurious life when I'm on a holiday. We all will die some day and when the day arrives, I want to go without any regrets,“ she philosophises.

She flashbacks to her initial years in the industry and her first manager, Jatin Rajguru, whose other client, Karisma Kapoor was working double and triple shifts, while Bipasha would suddenly take off to Goa and switch off her phone. “Finally, he told me I was free to take off, but I should keep my phone on, so he could at least trace me,“ she chuckles at the memory.

With no film announcements happening for a while from her end, the general impression is that the next announcement will be about marriage? “Marriage?“ she exclaims. “That's not happening for now. I can never go for an arranged marriage; that would never work for me, so my parents have given up. Right now it's not important because I can see that many of the marriages around me are not happy. But there are also the blessed ones like my parents. When I see them together, I want marriage too. But jab hoga, tab hoga,“ she shrugs.

So, what's the status quo with Karan Singh Grover, who's been accompanying her on many of her holidays? “Karan is a good guy, he's a part of my close friend circle now. I enjoy being with him. But I'll speak about the man in my life when I want to,“ she says. So, we move on to the next chapter. What's the score on movies? Bipasha admits that a few announcements are on the way. Is one of them fashion designer Vikram Phadnis's directorial debut, Nia? “It's a beautiful script, but I believe there are some issues between his producers and him which needed to be ironed out first. He's a talented guy, he'll make a fabulous film,“ she asserts.

Any new projects with the other Vikram: Vikram Bhatt? “He's a friend. Not many had faith in his Creature but I believed in him. He was thinking out of the box and gave us something different with limited resources. The day he has another script like Raaz 3 we'll be back,“ she says.

For now, Bipasha admits that she would want to work with Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. “But the offer should come from the other side, it's not in my hands. I know I will never do another Humshakals but I'd love to do another Abbas-Mustaan film. I'm good with the action, thriller genre. I want to move away from horror but it won't leave me. The offers keep coming despite me being a fattu in real life. I'd like to do a comedy. A small, heroine-centric film, maybe. An interesting script shaping up, expect some announcements soon and I don't mean marriage,“ she signs off.