You too suffered an ordeal during the 2005 floods in Mumbai. How much of that experience did you incorporate into your character in Tum Mile?

The Tum Mile sets had a controlled environment, but they were as bad as flooded Mumbai. The director Kunal Deshmukh is a sadist to have created a set like that. The water was deep enough to submerge cars and rickshaws. There were no rafts so, every day, my driver would carry me on his shoulder and deposit me on the spot where we were to shoot. Since there was little difference between my real-life experience and what we were to project onscreen, all I had to do was react. The emotions flowed easily after that.

Your character Sanjana finds love in such hostile circumstances. Would you have been as vulnerable?

We’ve heard of people who found love during the floods. Maybe it is because every emotion gets magnified in challenging circumstances. But I doubt I’d have felt anything but the desire to get back home as soon as possible. I was just trying to get myself out of the situation. Personally, I hate the monsoon — the weather is humid and everything around you is mucky and dirty. To me, sunshine is romantic.

The flood happened four years ago. Isn’t Tum Mile a little too late?

Tum Mile is chiefly a romantic movie so I hope people connect with the emotions. Also, I feel the subject isn’t time-bound since we continue to be vulnerable to a similar calamity because we are still ill-equipped to deal with it. I know that Kunal wanted to make this movie before he did Jannat, but could not convince anyone to do it. Also, at that point I guess no one was willing to put the kind of money Tum Mile required. It has worked now since Kunal has proved himself with Jannat.

Were you apprehensive of your co-star Emraan Hashmi’s image?

Before signing the film, I asked my director if I’d be expected to kiss onscreen and was told it was not in the script. But during the shoot he told me there was this small, sweet kiss we’d have to do. Then, one kiss became two.

You finally share screen-space with your mother Sharmila Tagore in Life Goes On.

We received ample offers in the past to act together but most were intended to cash in on our relationship. We decided to do this film because it really required us to project the sentiments involved in a mother-daughter relationship. The film is about the sense of loss a family feels upon the mother’s death. It was scary to work with her because she knows me very well and the slightest expression of insincerity on my face would give me away.

Are you trying to emerge from the shadow of your mother?