Anita's interview about her career

Will it work now?

She is a Balaji Telefilms protg in both television and films. And the banner is the epicenter of numerology in our entertainment industry - hence the name Natassha with the double 's'. Only a couple of months she had named her dog as Kompany.

And now she is back to her original name - Anita! "This is the name my parents gave me, and which I first used. I want to go back to it! That is what my friends have always called or known me by anyway," defends Anita vs. Natassha. So you see, it is nothing to do with the disastrous faring of Koi Aap Sa.

Anyway, even if her films (except for her debut film Kucch To Hai ), Natassha is playing the female lead in Ekta's Kkavyanjali, her latest in an impressive success record of serials. Her affair with cinema began with Balaji Telefilms' slasher film Kucch To Hai, and except for a cameo in Silsiilay (which went as unnoticed as the film) all her subsequent enterprises in Hindi have involved the Jeetendra khandaan, with Ekta also producing Krishna Cottage and Koi Aap Sa, and brother Tusshar co-starring in her only outside Hindi film Yeh Dil.

So is it going to remain that way, or will she do outside films and serials?

"I have done films in the South," she declares. "My Nuvvu Nenu, was a bumper hit down there. Yeh Dil was its Hindi remake. I have signed Ek Se Bure Do, with Arshad Warsi as my hero, Rajpal Yadav and a new girl also in the cast. It's an out-and-out comedy. As for serials, I am comfortable with Ekta. When Kkavyanjali and Koi Aap Sa together proved too demanding for my energy levels, why should I overwork?'

But isn't it possible that an impression has been formed that she only works for Balaji Telefilms? After all, she is also the only actor who balances films and television both in only lead roles. Does that lead to hesitation on the part of producers?

Replies Anita, "I have not yet begun to get really good roles. I have turned down so many films that demanded a lot of skin show because I was not comfortable with the idea. I also got and rejected multiple offers of 'item' numbers after Ding dong (Kucch To Hai ) and Bindaas (Krishna Cottage ).

Adds Anita, "I got involved in everything from my looks to the feelings that such a girl must be experiencing. The transformation was exciting for an actor. It was an awesome role.

"I discussed my character a lot with my director Partho Mitra, because motherhood must be such a beautiful feeling. In fact I had got so involved that I was often called Simmi on the sets, which is my character's name!"

Does she follow the method school of acting? "No, I am a switch-on, switch-off actor. I became an actor after dad passed away five years ago and I thought that I should work and earn. A friend suggested that I audition as a model and I also auditioned with Balaji Telefilms as an actress. My first ad films were for Sunsilk and Boroplus and my first serial was Kabhi Souten Kabhi Saheli. But though I had never thought of acting as a career option, it was pretty smooth. I was never camera-conscious and simply did what I was told. Of course, from a twenty retakes person I have graduated to becoming a one-take actress! But now, I will not quit acting even after marriage. I want to achieve both success and a reputation as an actress of substance."