"I've been busting my chops," sighs Sameera Reddy as she walks in half an hour late for our meeting at a suburban restaurant.

Her morning schedule has squeezed in two hours of Kathak rehearsal, an hour at the gym "just toning up", a script session, a TV talk show... and now this interview. "With Musafir there's just too much happening," she grins with happy exasperation.

Well, Sameera herself is certainly happening, in fact, she's being touted as the next garma-garam thing in trade circles. After Musafir, Sameera has already bagged roles in a couple of big-budget movies.

"Offers trickled in after Ram Gopal Varma's Darna Mana Hai. But I didn't bite the bait. Most of the movies being offered to me had lots of sex and lots of body stuff, which I didn't want to do," she declares. Kyon? (Why?) "Please, I'm not saying I will do only woman-oriented scripts," she reasons. "And I have nothing against the so-called ?hot? roles. But there has got to be some essence to the character." Haan (Yes), but we hear your role in Sanjay Gupta's Musafir is all body and no soul, I argue. "Well," she smiles, raising an eyebrow, "that's the conclusion people have drawn. And we?ve let the speculation continue because it?s creating a buzz."

So what?s the truth, girl? "It's a film which has a soul. And the soul has a body," she laughs.

"Musafir is the story of a woman who is involved with more than one man. But it's not like she?s just messing around with all the men. The story justifies why she does what she does. Okay, it has some sensual, tantalizing stuff but nothing sticks out like a sore thumb."

Sam, as her friends call her, admits that there she has a lip-to-lip kiss with Anil Kapoor in the film. But why such a fuss about it, she asks. "It's not the film's USP! Even while shooting the kiss Anil Kapoor and I treated it most normally."

But aren't most Indian actors self-conscious kissers? "Yes, they are," she admits. "But I wasn't self-conscious. It's not like I had to brace myself and psyche myself for hours on end about doing it. Nor did Anil and I go through rehearsals. We shot the kissing scene as normally and as naturally as we shot the rest of Musafir. She continues, Sanjay Gupta asked me whether I wanted him to clear the set for the scene and I said no. The more we made it look like something taboo, the worse it would be. And everyone on that set, from the spot-boy to the director, was very cool about it."

As for her career graph, Sameera insists her current mission in life is not to replace any of the existing sex symbols. "Like I said, I'm making a conscious effort to do roles which are not all ?body'. I don't want to come across as a tits ?n' ass girl. Look at most of the girls on screen today ? their personalities don?t come through at all. Everyone is so caught up in this strut-your-stuff rigmarole that they've forgotten that the real reason we actresses are here is to act. Most people are losing the plot," she shrugs.

Before you jump to the conclusion that Sam is sermonising, the actress agrees that it is essential for her to do some sensual roles but argues that she wants to balance that with some good performances. While she is still just talking to John Mathew Mathan for a role, she's already begun work on Anees Bazmee's Benaam. "I have a great role in Benaam," she enthuses. Hey, didn't Priyanka Chopra walk out of this film because she said the role was thanda?

"Look, I don't know Priyanka's reasons for leaving Benaam," Sameera answers. "And honestly I don't care. For me it's a good script, a damn good role, a good director. And it's got Ajay Devgan, who is a fantastic actor and a very humble human being too."

Sameera is also all praise for her Musafir co-stars Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor. "Sanju is like a big brother," she says affectionately. "He's the kinda guy who, when he says, ?I'm there for you? means it. When I signed Benaam, he called me from Los Angeles to congratulate me. Anil Kapoor is a dedicated actor and like me he is most involved in his work.?

As for the rumours about her and Ram Gopal Varma, she responds, "I'm indebted to Ramuji but please, there's no truth in that.? And what about Sanjay Gupta? "I'm a director's baby," replies Sameera. "I depend a lot on my directors. I need them there to mould me. But the obsession ends there."If Sameera sounds pretty self-composed, well, she is, right now. "I came into the industry wanting to be treated like a princess," she smiles. "Of course, what I got was a lot of hurt and rejection initially. But when I realised how ruthless this place was, I decided to get up and fight. And now my sense of self-worth is tremendous.?

Meena Iyer Source : Filmfare

?I'm making a conscious effort to do roles which are not all ?body?. I don't want to come across as a tits ?n' ass girl. Look at most of the girls on screen today ? their personalities don?t come through at all.?