Other States - New Delhi

Actress soars from cameo role
By K. Kannan

If you chanced to see Raj Kumar Santoshi's ``Lajja'' last year strictly from a director's point of view, you could not have missed her. Though she did not outshadow the half-a-dozen high-profile girls including Madhuri Dikshit and Manisha Koirala that Santoshi had in his film, her cameo role as the village chieftain Danny Denzongpa's daughter could have impressed anyone looking for a new face.

For Aarti Chabria, that small role has now turned out to be the beginning of a new journey. Not strictly a new face as she is a well-known name in the world of advertising, she has done close to 120-130 ads so far. ``I started doing ads when I was just three years of age,'' says Aarti who will now be making her Hindi film debut in Deepak Anand's ``Tumse Accha Kaun Hai'', due for release on April 16.

While Deepak missed her in action in Santoshi's ``Lajja'', he was quite impressed by Aarti when he met her at a common friend's place and the result -- she has landed a lead role in ``Tumse Accha Kaun Hai'' along with Nakul Kapoor, another new-comer and Kim Sharma of ``Mohabattein'' fame. ``I have had no formal training in acting,'' reveals the shy and coyish Aarti.

Talking about her role in ``Tumse Accha Kaun Hai'', Aarti says: ``I play the role of a simple, middle-class family girl who believes that love and freedom go together.'' Having done a couple of music videos before, including Harry Anand's ``Chahat'', Aarti found it quite a pleasant experience working for a film which has a totally new star cast.

Quite comfortable as she was emoting before the camera, Aarti feels confident she can do different kinds of roles. After ``Tumse Accha Kaun Hai'', she would be appearing in the Vikram Bhatt directed ``Aawara, Paagal, Deewana'' in which she has a lead role opposite Akshay Kumar. ``My role in that film is that of an NRI girl, which is totally different from the one I play in this movie,'' she informs.

While Aarti has signed another film opposite Suneil Shetty in an as yet untitled film, to be directed by Tinoo Anand, she is also doing a Kannada film being directed by Ravi Chandran. ``The title of the film when translated into English, means `Come, Let Us Love,' '' she says, adding Ravi Chandran was launching his son in the movie.

Interestingly, Aarti is being quite choosy about her roles -- a disqualification for a new-comer like her. ``I accepted the role of Naina in `Tumse Aacha Kaun Hai' only because I liked the story,'' she says. ``I am open to doing all kinds of roles including characters with negative shades''.

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