Outspoken, vivacious, and downright honest, actor-director-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt (51) is not someone who minces words. Be it women’s rights issues, abortion, her problem with alcohol, the double standards in society, insecurities in tinsel town, or whether wo(men) have the right to tell their own stories. Speaking on the sidelines of 54th IFFI in Goa, Pooja, immaculately dressed in a smart white dress suit says she has an old connection with Goa. “I have many fond memories of Goa because some of my films were shot in the beautiful villages of Goa,” she says.
Speaking about her latest movie Sanaa, which revolves around an ambitious woman grappling with an internal conflict that is rooted in an unhealed trauma, Pooja says, “The movie (Sanaa) shows that you don’t have to be a woman to tell a woman’s story. Empathy is not a female privilege.” The plainspoken actor says that there needs to be a healthy dialogue on important issues like abortion and women rights. Thanking the government for its efforts to ensure women’s safety and empowerment, she says, “The decisions matter and the same should be celebrated. But a lot needs to be done.”
The talented actor mentioned that she had given up drinking for the past few years and was celebrating her love with sobriety. In the past, Pooja had even spoken about “alcohol being the drug of her choice” on her social media account. Some people labelled her as “boring” because she did not drink even socially. “I was like wow! That’s a new title. Many people claim they have full control over their drinking habit, but that’s a myth. People make all kinds of excuses to drink. And when you cannot control after a sip, it means you have a drinking problem,” she asserts.
