Second coming for Meera

Second coming for Meera

It's a brand new Meera—she's lost weight, broken free of the Bhatt camp and plans to set up a production house

Mahesh Bhatt's discovery Meera is back after a hiatus and the Pakistani actress is ready to launch into her very own discovery of India—or at least Bollywood. This time, she's clear about one thing: there will be no exclusive association with the Bhatt camp. Meera is determined to work with different banners.

"It's not that I will not work with Bhattsaab. In fact, I'm already doing another film with him called Shohrat, though I'm also signing a film with Raj Kumar Santoshi and looking at more scripts," she says.

The pretty Pakistani actor, who had upset a lot of people in the industry when she suddenly disappeared from the scene without even leaving a forwarding address, insists she had her reasons for going underground. The storm that erupted in Pakistan following her kissing scene with Ashmit Patel in Nazar changed the course of her life.

"I was so disturbed by that controversy that I just went into a shell. I left Pakistan and went to Canada with the desire to immigrate. I've been staying there for a year now.

However, my papers are in order, so no one can stop me from working in India. Before that, every time there was a dip in the relations between India and Pakistan, there would a problem . You just can't trust the relations between the governments to remain stable," she says.

Meera wants to get her second innings absolutely right. She has teamed up with friend
Salma Agha and even plans to launch a production house. But for now, she's enjoying her freedom.

The first thing she's done is gone ahead and bought a car in her name. "This car is the first purchase I have been able to make in India and I'm so proud about it. As a Pakistani citizen, it would have been impossible to do that. Now I'm hunting for a nice house. My career lies firmly in Bollywood," she signs of.

s_saumit@dnaindia.net

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1161550