With most beauty pageant winners make a beeline to Bollywood, what made you go down South?
Thamizhan was not the first film I signed. I signed Raj Kanwar’s Andaaz, Anil Sharma’s The Hero and Hriday Shetty’s Plan way back in 2001. But the Hindi films took their own sweet time to get made. The Tamil film just happened to come out faster. How difficult was choosing films for you since you had no experience in the film world? It wasn’t easy. I have made my share of mistakes. I chose films that got stuck like K C Bokadia’s Ek Haseena Ek Deewana, Guddu Dhanoa’s Gandhi and a Vijay Galani film. I didn’t know the filmmakers then. I would only listen to the story and say yes if I liked it. I chose films by instinct. I didn’t even think about my role or how many songs I would get. I didn’t think that was important. Then my secretary came in and helped me. [CEO, Times Of India] Pradeep Guha was also helpful. He gave me a list of filmmakers that I should know of and should say yes to, if they approached me. But now, when I take up projects, I look at the banner first. The producer must b
