Desi actors strike balance

Bride and Prejudice... Mistress of Spices... Provoked.... The Last Legion. Aishwarya Rai may have set the trend, taken the risk and inadvertently provided hope to her fellow colleagues to reach out to the Hollywood dream. But now critics point out that after the mixed response to Mistress of Spices and constant reports in the media about her interim presence in Mumbai, many of Ash's co-actors with international projects have decided on a comprehensive reality check. They want to make their presence felt in Bollywood.

Tara Sharma, who'll soon start the shoots of the Hungarian film Overnight, believes in exercising caution before signing a film. "It's important for me to stay in Mumbai, so that I do not miss out on good work. Recently, I had to turn down an offer to act in an Italian television series since they wanted me to stay in Rome for more than 10 months. Thankfully, Overnight will be shot in Mumbai. Then, a British TV series titled Britz, will also be shot in Mumbai."

Sonali Kulkarni seconds Tara's comment, agreeing that work opportunities are more in Mumbai. "I want to do mainstream films which more people can go out and watch," says Kulkarni, who has shared screen space with Omar Sharif in the Italian film, Fire at my Heart. Meanwhile, Nandana Sen stresses that she never had a fixed strategy about balancing her international and Indian projects and chose a film solely on it's merit. "I just want to work in good films. The language or the nationality does not matter. In the last two years, I have completed nine films and I'm awaiting the release of Ashvin Kumar's The Forest, It's a Mismatch and Marigold."

Tannishtha Chatterjee sums up the mood, "I love cinema and try to seek as many interesting characters as possible. International projects give you an exposure and one comes in contact with other talented directors. Florian Gallenberger's Shadows of Time did not help directly in bagging Brick Lane. But filmmaker Sarah Gavron had seen it."