BollywoodSARGAM News Service

Gaurav Oberoi

Mumbai, Thrusday, March 28, 2008 (BSNS) Divya Dutta will for the first time do a semi-nude sequence for the socio-political drama "Monica". She says the scene is crucial to the narrative.

"Normally, I wouldn't do such a scene for any one. I earlier did another real-life drama 'Trisha' with the same director. So I know his level of commitment is genuine".

"I play a character inspired from the headlines and this is a scene crucial to the narrative. So, yes, I'll be going bare back for the camera for the first time," she added.

Though she refuses to give away any more details about the true-life antecedents of her part, the film's maker Sushen Bhatnagar is far more forthright.

Bhatnagar said: "Divya is playing a character inspired by Shivani Bhatnagar, the small-time girl who came into fame through her (alleged) association with the late Pramod Mahajan. Ashutosh Rana plays the politician who exploits her, uses her as his arm-candy to show off at parties.

"Isn't that what we all do with women at some point? And I'm not sparing the media either. My brother is a journalist. So I've asked him to help me with the character of the journalist played by Rajit Kapoor, who plays Julius Caesar on stage and talks about women's rights, but is unable to do anything to save my heroine Monica."

Bhatnagar has used a lot of Shakespearean elements to tell his headline-inspired scandalous tale of a small-town girl's rise to political circles.

"I come from Lucknow and I know a lot of such cases, like Madhumita (Shukla) the poetess who was allegedly used and killed by a local politician. My main contention is: why is ambition only for men? Is it improper for women to be ambitious beyond a point? In Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', political ambition became a problem when Lady Macbeth acquired it."

Bhatnagar, who earlier shot a film "Trisha" based on a true incident, knows there would be trouble over the real-life links of Monica.

"But there are stories that need to be told, specially where girls from small towns are exploited for political expediency. Just because we anticipate protests, the cinema of social protest must not be allowed to die down."