I enjoy playing eccentric characters: Esha Deol

Esha Deol says she loved playing a ghost in Ram Gopal Varma's just released "Darling" because eccentric roles gives her a high. "I loved playing Geeta in 'Darling'. I appreciate the fact that Ramu considered me for a role like this. It's an eccentric part, yes. I enjoy playing traumatised parts. That gives me a high," Esha, who has earlier played an obsessive lover in Vikram Bhatt's "Ankahee", told IANS.

Though the film hasn't got encouraging reviews, critics have appreciated Esha's work.

"I think ghosts are normal entities. Ramu made it a point not to make the ghost in-your-face spooky. But it did get scary, especially in our new house in Goregaon. When mom wasn't around I'd look anxiously under the bed to spot spooks," she added.

"Fortunately, doing 'Darling' was fun. You can't call it a horror film. My character goes through so many changes. Ramu edits the film in his head before he starts. He knows exactly what he wants. Like Mani Ratnam."

Varma and Esha hit it off very well.

"He's not one of those directors who doesn't know which direction to go into and then you end up stuck and stupid."

Esha herself was upset when she saw the end result of Anubhav Sinha's disastrous "Cash".

She said: "On the script level it sounded so good. It's so sad that one isn't able to execute such a zany idea. When I saw the film I couldn't understand it. All of us in the cast were quite put off by the outcome.

"I think you should ask Anubhav Sinha what went wrong. When we were shooting everything was fine. He took a lot of care with certain sequences. At the end of it there was nothing. I still don't know what happened to the diamond at the end," said Esha, who featured in Sinha's earlier successful action-thriller "Dus".

On a brighter note, she got along famously with her co-star Shamita Shetty. "She's a very nice girl. All south Indians are nice girls," she joked impishly.

"Shamita and I were away from home in Cape Town for a long time. She was cool. We went to gym together. She has the best abs right now. Mine? I'm bored with mine. Of course, I'll continue with my fitness level. But it isn't obsession. It's a habit. If I don't work-out I don't feel right."

She also had a good rapport with her "Darling" co-star Fardeen Khan.

"We work well together. We share a great rapport. I've known Fardeen for a very long time. He's a good friend. Though people think I'm too aloof to be friendly."

Esha's next release is a mid-air thriller called "Hijack" with Shiney Ahuja.

"He plays my knight in shining armour. It's an action thriller directed by Kunal Shivdasani. People said I should do something realistic. So here I am. I'm also doing a film called 'Jannat' with Mahesh Bhatt."

Talk veers to "Ram Gopal Varam Ki Aag". Did she regret not playing Basanti?

"Are you mad? There can't be another 'Sholay'. And there can't another Basanti... after my mom."

Esha has so far featured in over 20 films and out of them only "Dhoom", "Dus" and "No Entry" have been successful.

Indo-Asian News Service