"I have these memories of a girl (Ameesha) who was fighting hard to bring back the time gone by and I too was having my struggle with the bad phase. So it is not just about her, it is also about me. But, luckily I was able to re-invent myself because I am a director, who doesn`t have a shelf life," Vikram told PTI, without accepting or denying that Bipasha`s role in `Raaz 3` was inspired by Ameesha`s life.
In `Raaz 3`, Bipasha plays an actress who is at the top of her career and sees a sudden downfall with another budding actress, Esha Gupta, taking her place. To regain her position in the industry, Bipasha resorts to black magic.
Emraan Hashmi plays the role of a director in the movie. Earlier, noted Bollywood director-producer Mahesh Bhatt had said that `Raaz 3` contains a slice from Bipasha Basu`s life.
"It also coincides with Bipasha Basu`s life where she is feeling the breath of extinction as the younger girls have come in who may elbow her out," Mahesh had said.
Vikram also said somewhere the film`s story coincides with that of Bipasha Basu, himself and writer Shagufta Rafique. However, the 43-year-old director did not divulge much on it, and only mentioned that there is a "surprise element" in the film.
An actress has shelf life and that is the unfortunate part, he said. "The case with an actress is that she has a shelf life. And that is the unfortunate part. Like Ameesha, even Preity (Zinta) faced similar problems. I feel Hindi film heroes cannot age anytime. Like Aamir Khan today does films with younger actresses," Vikram said.
"Today Aamir is 47-year-old but he can play a college student in `3 Idiots` but we will not accept Madhuri Dixit that way. It is unfortunate that actress is used only for glamour quotient," he said.
Walking down the memory lane, Vikram recollected his relationship with Ameesha. "Ameesha and I saw bad times together. But when the good times came, unfortunately we were not together. I was having my string of flops and she was also struggling. And as luck would have it we broke off just before my film `1920` released. Thereafter I had all hits like `Shaapit` and `Haunted`. I have seen her struggle," Vikram said.
The director says he understands the pain of an actress who started losing ground after being at the height of success. "The girl who came with `Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai`, `Gadar` and `Hum Raaz`...she arrived at the top. But then she saw other girls taking her over. I also saw other directors coming and overtake me. So we both went through difficult times. And so I understand the pain of an actress who is losing her ground," he said.
In `Raaz 3` Bipasha resorts to black magic, but Vikram clarifies that Ameesha never resorted to any such thing.
"I have seen her being so excited about `Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic`. Ameesha had pinned all her hopes on the film. The film did not do well. I have seen her pain. But she never resorted to black magic or something like that," he said.
And now as Ameesha has moved on in her life and is all geared up for her own production company, Vikram wishes her good luck. "I wish her all the luck in her endeavour. I hope everything works for her and goes well because I have seen her go through a lot in terms of her parents, her case, among other things. Everything came to her at one time. It was unfortunate," he added.