After Rajni, Shreya doesn't need much

Shreya says that she picked up Rajini's classic twirl-and-wear sunglasses trick during the shooting of the movie. Shreya was so excited that she literally demonstrated her new-found skill to us step by step.

She held out her hands and said one needed to begin in the correct position with fingers entwined in the stems of the glasses. Then, she said, rapidly looping her wrists around and bringing her imaginary sunglasses to her face: "your hand movements need to be fast!"

The Telegu actress will now be seen in Awarapan on Friday opposite Emraan Hashmi. Talking a mix of Hindi and English, she was comfortable in the national language. Asked if she would now move to Mumbai she said she would continue to work in the south besides taking on what she got in Bollywood. "I want to promote Indian cinema and change its definition," she said, "I don't want people to segregate films on the basis of language and call it Tamil cinema or Bengali cinema."

Talking of her costar in Sivaji, she said people would regularly reach for Rajinikant's feet in the south, adding that she thought he deserved that stature. "He is like a family member of people in rural Tamil Nadu," Shreya said, "and now with Sivaji, I've entered their homes as well." Sivaji was the third film of her career.

"I have learnt more than just his goggles-wearing style. His simplicity is the key to his success and he never takes it for granted. They say sky is the limit but you have to very work hard to achieve the sky and he has done exactly that," she gushed, "he is so versatile and a genius. He can carry off ten different looks. Even in his natural look, he is awesome."

After Awarapan, Shreya will be seen in Sangeet Sivan's Ek, starring Bobby Deol and Nana Patekar.

Thursday, June 28, 2007