Sushmita Sen’s ‘spark’ling act creates a

While 'Chingaari' has not yet set the box office ablaze, her Sen-sational performance is creating a buzz.

Difficult role: "Without a doubt, this has been the toughest performance of my career. It's not about playing a prostitute, but a woman who happily settles for less because she doesn't know better. One of the major characters in this film is Goddess Kaali. I am a huge bhakt. Dedicating this film to her, I gave it everything. In the climax, I cut my foot, got blisters playing the drum, even dislocated my shoulder. This woman is possessed and I wanted that to be real. When I look at the film now, I feel the line between acting and being me got lost. I would be incapable of doing it again."

National Award? (Breaks into laughter) "Well, so I have been told. That's the award that I care for the most."

Toughest part: "My relationship with my daughter (a love child) in the film is a very complicated one."

Bhojpuri dialect: "I thought the language would be a problem, but surprisingly when I dedicated this film to my Goddess, things just came naturally. In the end I was speaking the language more fluently than most other people. And I still do. My driver from Bihar gets zapped because he still isn't that fluent."

Memorable moments: "I cannot forget the climax. Kalpana told me: 'I am not going to paint you black in colour, but let me see the Goddess in you.' I did this tandav in front of 1000 people from Satara and they thought I was actually possessed. They wanted my blessings. It was tough telling them, 'Aap samajh nahin rahe, hum acting kar rahe the.' It took us almost two hours to get out from there."