Pooja Bhatt returns to acting after 16 years, to play an alcoholic cop

Pooja Bhatt is all set to make a comeback as an actress after 16 years. She will be playing the lead in the adaptation of economist Abheek Barua’s crime novel, City Of Death. Bhatt will also produce the film under her banner, Fish Eye Network.

The last time Bhatt faced the camera was for Rahul Bose’s Everybody Says I’m Fine! (2001).

She will be playing the central character of Anglo-Indian Rita Brown (Sohini Sen in the book), who is an alcoholic and pill-popping cop. She goes on a suicidal vacation to Goa when the Chief Minister of Goa asks her to investigate the case of the murder of the daughter of an industrialist. The victim was found beheaded and naked. After Rita starts investigating the case, she realises that the entire affair is a murky game of politics.

Speaking to an agency about her keen interest in the book, Bhatt said, “The plot, the milieu and especially the characters grabbed me and left me gasping by the end of it. The themes of depression, addiction, false appearances and corruption make it relevant to the times.”

Bhatt revealed to a daily how she suddenly decided to make a comeback. “My friend Kaustav Narayan Niyogi (director of Cabaret), recommended the book and even as I was reading it, I wanted to get back on the set to play this character. This came as an electric shock because that part of my life was no longer a priority. I called my dad (Mahesh Bhatt) to make this guilty confession and he assured me that it was a good feeling, as did my producer-partner, Sheel Kumar,” she said.

The film will be directed by Digvijay Sisodia, whose debut Maya has been banned. He will be making changes in the original story.

Incidentally, Bhatt also had a drinking problem in real life, which she has left behind. She had recently said, “I stopped drinking by first acknowledging that I had a drinking problem. Because you are a woman and you live in a society where they are always taught or forced to brush things under the carpet. We tend to bury this shameful habit that we have of covering it up and say, ‘Oh, we don’t have a problem, it is somebody else’s and I am not that drunk.’”