Shamita Shetty ready to kick butt

Shamita says that the long hiatus was simply due to the lack of offers and now, after completing Cash she can't wait to do more movies that involve kicking some butt. Set in Cape Town, South Africa, the movie stars Esha Deol, Ajay Devgan, Riteish Deshmukh and Zayed Khan.

First of all, where have you been?

Honestly speaking, I didn't have a single good role coming my way so I figured that the more sensible option was to not do anything rather than doing just about any meaningless role. And my patience paid off – I got Cash with Anubhav Sinha as well as another movie down south with Madhavan.

OK. So let's talk about Cash and your role in it.

It's a complete action packed movie… something that we all have come to expect from Anubhav. I play the Head of Security of the Indian High Commission in South Africa. She is a very intelligent girl who has a tough side but at the same time is quite vulnerable as far as her relationship with Ajay (Devgan) is concerned in the movie. So it's a good mix of emotions for me in Cash. I am very proud of the movie and Anubhav has extracted my very best.

You are looking very fit now. Is this look especially for Cash?

Yes, I had to work really hard for Cash as I play the Head of Security. Anubhav was very particular about my look. He wanted a leaner look… abs and all that… So I worked out a lot and was very particular about what I ate. I put in a lot of hard work for this role.

Like you said it's an action packed movie. So are you doing any of the stunts?

You know, normally we only associate stunts with men. But in Cash the women in the film are involved in a lot of stunts and action. It was very exciting for me personally. No doubt it was very painful physically, but I got to try out a lot of new stuff. I was bruised for a very long time. I am involved in quite a few action sequences and it was a great experience. And now, since I love all this action, I'm surely going to be on the look out for similar roles.

Did you take any formal training for your role?

Initially we had decided that I was going to train for it abroad. But it didn't work out and I went straight to Cape Town and we started shooting. So it was quite a difficult time for me in the beginning as I was doing all the action sequences without any formal training. But I must say that our stunt co-ordinators were brilliant. They looked after us very well.

So any particular shot that was difficult for you?

Action is not easy to do for anybody – new or experienced. For me personally, the most difficult scene was the climax sequence for sure. The scene involves a fight between Esha (Deol) and me and other girls in the background. At one point I was to punch this girl and even that was very difficult for me. So I remember I punched her in the scene and I actually hit her quite hard. Her nose was bleeding profusely and the most difficult part of it was that Anubhav wasn't happy with that take and I had to re-do it! I was feeling so bad about it. That is one experience I'll never forget.

As Shilpa's sibling what do you have to say about Big Brother and all that has happened after that?

Mom always believed that Shilpa had great things lined up for her. For years she told us that Shilpa would earn immense international acclaim and fame. As far as being her sister is concerned, all I can say is that I'm very happy for her. I think what she has achieved is commendable and this makes me very proud of her!