I walked out of the room when a Telugu film producer asked me to sleep

Comments [ 0 ] By Indra D. | 21 June 2008 | 3:11pm

Her maiden film as an actress - Hum Sey Hai Jahaan bombed at the box office, but then pretty, dark and smart Vishakha Singh is not unduly perturbed by the fate of the film for the simple reason that even before Hum Sey Hai Jahaan was complete, she had bagged two more films - Abhijeet Sengupta's Do Aur Do Paanch and Venkatesh Naidu's Coffee Shop, which are also being readied for an early release.

Born and brought up in Abu Dhabi, Vishakha, who was the cultural captain while she studied in school, is a beauty with brains, having graduated in Business Administration in New Delhi. Vishakha confesses that it was sheer boredom with her internship in a couple of ad agencies that prompted her to try her hands at modeling. Vishakha continues confessing that her acting stint had actually started right from home when she had lied to her strict father that she wanted to go to Mumbai to do theatre because he was not in favor of letting her act in films.

Vishakha concedes that though it is easy to get offers to act in ad films after giving the auditions, to face the camera and emote and lose one's inhibitions to a blank lens which is just a piece which does not respond to you is quite a tough task. "Though I did not learn acting by joining any acting academy, I am glad I was able to understand the medium by facing the camera for ad films. Though as far as acting was concerned, I was 10 when I embarked on a career in acting, today I feel I can rate myself 4 out of 10," Vishakha quips.

Though Vishakha has not acted in any TV serial till date, she says that all the credit for having made her an actress ought to go to Balaji Telefilms which had auditioned her for a role in their popular serial Kasauti Zindagi Ki. "I was given a two page long dialogue for the scene in which Prerna loses her son. After I had done the scene, I went on crying and was asked to report for the shoot from the next day. However I decided that I could not suffer doing such scenes for 25 days every month and politely declined the role of Aparna who ends up marrying Mr Basu," explains Vishakha.

However, Vishakha says that she does not regret having said no to act in TV serials. "TV is a very open medium. Touchwood, if my films do not do well at the box office, I am one hundred per cent confident that television is one medium which would still welcome me, with open arms. I do not mean to look down upon TV. It is just that as of now I want to concentrate all my attention on making a career as an actress in Bollywood," Vishakha explores her world of hope.

Whether in Hum Sey Hai Jahaan or Do Aur Do Paanch or for that matter Coffee Shop, Vishakha says that she has made it a point not to expose at all, though it is the latest mantra in Bollywood. "Losing one's inhibitions does not at all mean that one should bare one's clothes but emotions. It is only the director and the script which can convince me as f Vishakha Singh ar as agreeing to expose on the screen is concerned," bold goes the rising star.

What is Vishakha's take on exposure? I ask Viashakha. She shoots back, "I have a lot of pride in me. When I saw Esha Deol appear in a skimpy bikini in Dhoom, my heart sank, because I realized that I stood no chance of saying no to getting into a bikini, if Esha who is from the film industry had to do it. I am not at all a prude. Though I had turned down Arjun Sablok's offer to cast me in Niel N Niki in the role in which he had eventually cast Tanisha, because he could not convince me to expose my cleavage almost throughout the film, I'd readily do a lip to lip kissing scene like Rani did in Black if the scene changes the entire narration like it did in Black."

Is she scared of the syndrome of the casting couch? I ask her. Without batting her eye lids, she replies, " I am not scared at all of the casting couch, because I'd slap the person if someone makes an attempt, though I do not deny that it does exist. A Telugu film producer told me on my face to sleep with him if I wanted to act in his film, but he was lucky because I had politely walked out, since I was new then, long before I bagged the offer for my first film."

In Do Aur Do Paanch, Vishakha plays a typical tapori girl since the film, in her own admission, is a take off on Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, a comedy action film, which has Salman Khan doing a special appearance though the flick has no love triangle at all. In Coffee Shop, Vishakha plays the role of a painter. "It is about the struggle of the girl who wants to go to the New York School of Fine Arts. Though in real life, I also dabble with painting as a hobby, I am not a M. F. Hussain in real life, though I could identify with the journey of the character that I am playing in Coffee Shop to a large extent," Vishakha casts light on her character.

When she met Mashoor Amrohi who has not only played the leading man in Hum Sey Hai Jahaan but also produced, directed, written and choreographed the film, Vishakha says that she could easily gel with him because they belonged to the same age group and there was no communication gap. "I was relieved to make my debut with a banner which was known to present women in a dignified way", Vishakha quips and adds that it was a big advantage to her that Mashoor, besides being the leading man, was also the director of the film since she did not have to necessarily look tom the director behind the camera.

Inrterestingly Vishakha's name was suggested by the unit of Chak De India after she had been rejected by Shimit Amin when she auditioned for the role eventually played in the film by Vidya Malavade, because Shimit did not find her suitable for the matured character.

Vishakha says that her wish list is to act in films like Black and Cheeni Kum since she is a die-hard fan of Rani Mukerjee, Kajol, Tabu, Vidya Balan and Minissha Lamba ("I like Minisha's choice of films") as far as actresses are concerned though her staunch favorite among the actors is none other than Hrithik Roshan. "I dote on Hrithik Roshan because he is so devoted to his work", she concludes.

-Jyothi Venkatesh