Bhagyashree to play Akki's sister

Bhagayashree

Seventeen years after her debut film Maine Pyar Kiya, with Salman Khan, actress Bhagyashree is back in Bollywood with Humko Deewana Kar Gaye.

She plays Akshay Kumar's sister in this Raj Kanwar's film.

The actress describes the move as her way of "testing the waters of Bollywood, before embarking on something substantial". For quite a while, there has been a constant buzz that Bhagyashree desired to be back on the silver screen. "Yes, that's true," she tells us.

I haven't been away from the camera…
After Maine Pyar Kiya, I did a few films as well as a couple of films in the South. I even did a TV serial, Kagaz Ki Kashti, for Sahara. It was produced by my husband Himalaya, under our Shrishti Entertainment banner. I also turned director with the telefilm, Uff Umma Ma, for Star One.

There was also J K Agarwal's film Maa Santoshi Maa three years ago. I am also doing a Bhojpuri film Uthaile Ghoonghta Chand Dekhle. So it was not that I was out of the acting circuit.

Raj Kanwar approached me…
He knew that I was looking at acting on the big screen again. He asked me to do Humko Deewana Kar Gaye and it required just five days of shoo-ting — two days in Canada and three in Mumbai. I thought why not take it up? My kids Abhimanyu and Avantika are grown up now.

I'll work only with nice people…
I am a bit sceptical about many things, especially when you are told something and it ends up becoming something else. So, besides the role, the comfort factor is of great importance to me.

I don't regret giving it all up…
That is what everyone tells me, how could you have given it all up? How could you have rejected all those offers? But at that point I thought that was right. What is the point of looking back; things won't change. Now, I want to look forward.

That I would only act with my husband Himalaya…
This is something I now feel I should have cleared that time. This was a faux pas; a blunder I regret. Anyway, that's now all in the past.

The buzz about the Barjatyas and Salman...
A while back, I heard that I was supposed to be doing a Barjatya film and another one with Salman. There is no truth in this. It was just a figment of someone's imagination.

I am also into designing home accessories in leather...
I have my own line called Caviar, and I also supply to a store in Mahalaxmi. It is exclusive stuff, like rugs and tissue- box holders.