| Sameera Reddy has been taking riding lessons for her next film, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Ghulami.
A period film based on the 1857 mutiny, Ghulami also stars Sunny Deol and Irrfan Khan.
Yesterday's lesson started off routinely — till her horse decided to gallop off with her. Luckily for Sameera, her trainers managed to control the animal before she was hurt… Why did you start taking riding lessons? It's been a week since I started the lessons at Tishu's (Dhulia) insistence. Allan Amin set up a training camp in Juhu, with eight horses for Irrfan, me and other artistes. Tishu told me I needed to develop a firm grip while riding, as the film requires many shots, including my entrance in the film. What happened yesterday? The horse was cantering, when suddenly, it went wild and started galloping. It just went berserk, ran out of the gate and rushed on to the road. With so much traffic around, I was scared something would happen.
But Allan and his guys are fantastic. Two of his best riders helped control the horse before anything happened. The horse had reared up and I could have fallen off, but didn't. I have a good team. But it was quite a scary experience! Have you sworn off riding now? Not at all. I love riding! A lot of people advised me against taking riding lessons but it's a very strong role and I wanted to give it my best shot. Of course, right now, I'm exhausted. I have been getting up every day 6 am, taking lessons till 10, and then going for my Ghulami shoot in Film City. Any other problems with horses? No, I've found a way to make friends with them. On my first day, my mum asked me to take some glucose biscuits for the horses — they loved the biscuits! Now, I take six packets everyday, for all the horses. |
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