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In this rare 2016 interview, Pooja Bhatt, who turned 53 this week, opened up to Subhash K Jha and spoke frankly and candidly about her life, priorities, pets & peeves.

Pooja, why don’t we see you on screen anymore?

I am not offered anything. No one wants to cast me! Earlier, they thought I was a producer-director’s daughter, hence difficult. Now, I am a producer-director myself. So, you can imagine how intimidated they are. The last person who was brave enough to cast me was Rahul Bose in Everybody Says I’m Fine. He gave me no choice. He is my dearest friend. I confided in him about how disillusioned I was by the business of cinema and stardom. He offered me a role. I was aghast. ‘What kind of a friend are you? I just told you I’m sick of the industry, and you’re offering me a role?...

“Joyland” star Sarwat Gilani headlines “Farar,” the first project under the Applause Entertainment-Zindagi South Asian content partnership unveiled by Variety recently.

The six-part series will premiere at the 14th annual Chicago South Asian Film Festival on Sept. 23. Directed by New York-based Mehreen Jabbar (“Jurm”) and written by Rida Bilal (“Zakham”), the series follows three women, bound by friendship and driven by secrets and dreams, who yearn for an escape that could alter the course of their lives. Sabrina, a widowed hairdresser in a complex relationship; Tanya, an aspiring actor battling body image issues; and Huma, a resolute track and field runner facing marriage pressures hustle, thrive and survive as they navigate the frenzied, bustling city of Karachi, Pakistan.

The partnership between prolific Indian studio Applause Entertainment and Zindagi, the Indian subcontinent-focused programming block on streamer ZEE5 Global, is set up to create South Asian-themed content from across the subcontinent.