Celia Imrie: Best Exotic cast are close

Celia Imrie still laughs about when she had to pretend she didn't know her The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel co-stars.

The British actress and fellow thespians Bill Nighy, Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench have reunited for the sequel to the 2012 film, which sees a group of retirees take up residence in India.

They already knew each other well when shooting the original and are closer than ever now, so found it a challenge to pretend they were meeting for the first time in the former flick.

"We have a familiarity that we don’t have to play because we know each other, and it’s a little thing but, if we were all total strangers, I suspect it would be much more awkward. But it’s just easy, and lovely," Celia smiled to denofgeek.com.

"One of the most difficult scenes in the first film was actually being in the airport pretending not to know each other. That makes me laugh even now when I think of it because we shouldn't have caught eyes... well, we didn't because, had we, we would have laughed. Pretending not to know each other was quite a tricky exercise in good acting."

Celia plays man-eater Madge Hardcastle, who this time round is enjoying attention from two potential suitors.

Filming in India was a joy for the cast and while they embraced their surroundings, they had to be careful during scenes with Dev Patel, who plays hotel manager Sonny. The young actor is of Indian decent and found fame while shooting Slumdog Millionaire out there, so has a big fan base in the country.

"I do remember in the first film when somebody's car breaks down, I think I had something to do with it, and Dev's character is helping me fix the car, and of course you have to be so careful, because the minute one person recognised Dev it was swarms around the car, so you had to be really fast," Celia recalled.