| 'm no bimbo in real life: Anupama Verma |
| By Lata Khubchandani, India Syndicate |
| "I started modeling when I was still in school. I was a Shantanu Sheorey discovery- discovered in the Delhi Gymkhana club. That's where it all started and my first campaign was Digjam suiting with Shekhar Kapur. It was the story of this young girl and an older man. Even before it was released, I was signed up by Fair and Lovely and Godrej. " "For me modeling was always a hobby, never a career. I went ahead and completed my schooling and my graduation, and did my MBA. It was only in 1997 when I did my first video Boom Boom with Biddu.That became a huge chartbuster. I got signed up by Channel V and MTV as a Veejay then." "Soon, I signed my first film Grahan- that was a good time for me- a good phase but unfortunately I had this understanding with my producers that Grahan would be my first release, but it was delayed by over four years and I hung on." "That gave my film career a set back. But I didn't quite realize it because I was so busy modeling doing ramp shows etc. Finally Grahan released and I did another film Vadh with Nana Patekar- it was not a hardcore commercial but I consider it a feather in my cap because you get this kind of role after you've been in the industry for 8-10 years." "It was a very middle-class, non-glamorous kind of look, again with a young woman-older man theme. My first film was also performance-oriented. I didn't want to be projected as a model because then no one would take me seriously because of this aura about models that we have in the film industry." "My next film which will release this month [November], titled Padmashri Laloo Prasad Yadav, has me in a very glamorous role and that's an all-out comedy. I had done a song with Salil Ankola in Mahesh Manjrekar's Pitaah and that's how he cast me in Padmashri Laloo Prasad Yadav." "The film is a comedy- Laloo, Prasad and Yadav are three characters and I play opposite Prasad (played by Mahesh Manjrekar). In this film I play a bimbo (laughs) which I believe I am not. it's very funny. I am a hardcore Punjabi but I have people coming and asking me aap hindi bolti hain. I don't know why people consider me anglicized. I am a villager really!!" "So I've done the whole routine- modelling, music videos, veejaying and films. My first video was Boom Boom, the second was Tere bin jeena nahin, which was Bali Brahmbhatt's launch. That was also a hit and then came Bheegi bheegi raton main last year. Now I have done another one with my first ever director Shashilal Nair. I am working with him after five years. It's very differently done- very good from an artist's point of view. He has simplified it so much." "I had no formal training in acting, dancing, nothing- even though I do dance shows. I am doing a few films now. I do a lot of live events as a host. I do film shows and corporate shows too since I am an MBA with a double major in marketing and finance. I was always academically inclined, but modeling happened to me and I started enjoying it so I didn't pursue anything else." "My father was in the armed forces so we used to keep moving - I changed nine schools till the 9th standard. So I don't really know where I belong to. I think films are a career now." "What I have figured out is that as I have been facing the camera, I'm capable of emoting- I am very comfortable in front of the camera." "All my best offers came during the Grahan period when I was unable to sign them. I don't have a secretary to monitor my career. Because in films you have to keep circulating. It is not like modeling where work comes to you." |
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