Miss India Earth 2005 Niharika Singh says grooming for the pageant gave her confidence to choose a powerful film like 'Miss Lovely', India's official entry to Cannes this year
Very few Indian model-turned-actors have made it Cannes. A lesser number has been there only because their movies have been an official entry at the Cannes. Niharika Singh, Femina Miss India Earth 2005, has reasons to be proud. Excited with the news that her film, "Miss Lovely", is the official Indian entry at the prestigious Un Certain Regard section, the model-turned-actor is now deciding on what she wants to wear for her red carpet walk.
Says Niharika, "After I first read the script of Ashim Ahluwalia's "ML", I was literally left shivering because it was that powerful. Of course, there were people who had apprehensions about me doing a movie that dealt with C-grade film industry but I had a gut feeling that the director is a genius and I ought to do this movie. My year-long Miss India training has made me confident person and I feel that's why I had the guts to risk choosing to do such a movie. I was a small town girl and my Miss India grooming helped me to become the person that I am today."
Despite its name, the film doesn't have a Miss Lovely as a character. "I am the closest to what Miss Lovely could have been if there was one such character in the movie. My character's name is Pinky. The film is the story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mid-1980s," she explains.
Wasn't it difficult to shoot a film that deals with such a subject? "There is not much nudity in the movie. Ashim and the DOP KU Mohanan (who had shot "Don") have a different sense of aesthetics. Even the difficult scenes were shot so beautifully that they don't seem vulgar. It's like when you watch a Prabuddha Dasgupta photograph. He photographs nude women so well that you can't look the other way."
Ask her how she feels to have made it to Cannes for her acting skill and not her photogenic looks and she says, "I too have my struggle story as an actor. In 2005, I had a 10-film contract with Raj Kanwar but never shot with him till he passed away this year. I shot with Himesh Reshammiya for John Matthew Matthan's "A New Love Issshtory" because I believed in the vision of my director. But that film hasn't released yet. Even the Kannada film that I did hasn't yet seen the light of day. I have waited long enough. So has Nawazuddin. He has struggled for 18 years when no one would cast him in the lead despite all his talent. We always knew that "ML" was a different film and we are glad the world is noticing it too."
The rush to decide on what to wear on the red carpet has also begun. "I like saris as well as gowns. Perhaps, I'll go for Indianwear at the red carpet and gowns elsewhere," she says. Meanwhile, she has also started to pen a book. "It will be a memoir," is all that she offers to say.
Very few Indian model-turned-actors have made it Cannes. A lesser number has been there only because their movies have been an official entry at the Cannes. Niharika Singh, Femina Miss India Earth 2005, has reasons to be proud. Excited with the news that her film, "Miss Lovely", is the official Indian entry at the prestigious Un Certain Regard section, the model-turned-actor is now deciding on what she wants to wear for her red carpet walk.
Says Niharika, "After I first read the script of Ashim Ahluwalia's "ML", I was literally left shivering because it was that powerful. Of course, there were people who had apprehensions about me doing a movie that dealt with C-grade film industry but I had a gut feeling that the director is a genius and I ought to do this movie. My year-long Miss India training has made me confident person and I feel that's why I had the guts to risk choosing to do such a movie. I was a small town girl and my Miss India grooming helped me to become the person that I am today."
Despite its name, the film doesn't have a Miss Lovely as a character. "I am the closest to what Miss Lovely could have been if there was one such character in the movie. My character's name is Pinky. The film is the story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mid-1980s," she explains.
Wasn't it difficult to shoot a film that deals with such a subject? "There is not much nudity in the movie. Ashim and the DOP KU Mohanan (who had shot "Don") have a different sense of aesthetics. Even the difficult scenes were shot so beautifully that they don't seem vulgar. It's like when you watch a Prabuddha Dasgupta photograph. He photographs nude women so well that you can't look the other way."
Ask her how she feels to have made it to Cannes for her acting skill and not her photogenic looks and she says, "I too have my struggle story as an actor. In 2005, I had a 10-film contract with Raj Kanwar but never shot with him till he passed away this year. I shot with Himesh Reshammiya for John Matthew Matthan's "A New Love Issshtory" because I believed in the vision of my director. But that film hasn't released yet. Even the Kannada film that I did hasn't yet seen the light of day. I have waited long enough. So has Nawazuddin. He has struggled for 18 years when no one would cast him in the lead despite all his talent. We always knew that "ML" was a different film and we are glad the world is noticing it too."
The rush to decide on what to wear on the red carpet has also begun. "I like saris as well as gowns. Perhaps, I'll go for Indianwear at the red carpet and gowns elsewhere," she says. Meanwhile, she has also started to pen a book. "It will be a memoir," is all that she offers to say.
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