Life after Vivaah

Whatever they may say to the media at the beginning of their career, every Bollywood actress has to get into a glamorous avatar at some point of her career. The latest is Amrita Rao, trying to shed her goodie-goodie image. But she is merely following a trend. Remember Raveena Tandon? When she was launched with Patthar Ke Phool, she promised to remain covered. She tried hard to live up to the promise but once the going got tough at the box office, she conveniently got into Rakshak and Mohra mode.

Similar assurances were given by Kareena Kapoor at the time of Refugee but today she is desperate to get into smallest of minis as evident from Tashan and Kambakkhat Ishq. Same is true for Amisha Patel and Minisha Lamba who shed their inhibitions in Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic and Kidnap to keep themselves in the race.

Amrita turns glam with Neeraj Vohra’s Shortkut: The Con Is On, where she has a ravishing new look created by Manish Malhotra. It started with My Name is Anthony Gonsalves, but the film sank without a trace. She has her reasons ready. “If you look at my career graph, I have been playing different characters. Be it Main Hoon Naa or The Legend of Bhagat Singh or the recent Welcome To Sajjanpur, I have tried different shades and I take the latest Shortkut avatar in the same process of experimentation by an actor…something essential to grow as a performer so that the boredom doesn’t set in,” says Amrita.

But does she relate with the character because mostly such roles don’t have any social background?

“It has and that is one of the reasons I accepted to be part of this film. I always give something from my real self to the characters I play and this is no different. Here I am playing an actress who has a bold image, but she is uncomfortable with it because she has come from a middle class background. Her family is not all that happy with her career moves and she wants to do something meaningful in cinema. I can associate with her condition and Neerajji told me to keep it as real as possible.” She says the film is not yet another madcap comedy. “It is a wholesome entertainer, where you will find realistic characters in some comic situations. I am not doing any comedy but I am part of some comic situations with Arshad Warsi,” shares Amrita.

Despite doing some meaningful roles, and a fan following led by none other than M.F. Husain, Amrita has not been able to make her presence felt. “I believe in sustenance and no shortcut can help if you don’t have what it takes to last in this industry. I think it’s talent.”

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