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The Shak-a-laka Baby sashays to stardom!
A kiss, a song and an award-winning wedding were all that it took Vasundhara Das to cross the portals of stardom. If the kiss with Kamal Hassan in 'Hey Ram' made people sit up and take notice, her sensuous vocal chords in 'Shak-a-laka Baby!' brought Vasundhara into the musical limelight. Already a hit with the masses, 'Monsoon Wedding', gave the light-eyed actress success in the form of critical acclaim.
Vasundhara Das is a chameleon. She is an actress and a singer, many things rolled into one. No wonder then that she could make a mark with both the masses as well as the classes, especially with the rave reviews she is gathering for Mira Nairs Monsoon Wedding.
Vasundhara had only a couple of months ago come up with an album Meri Jaan. In that period also, she acted in a Tamil film named Citizen and a Malayalam movie opposite Mohanlal, Ravana Prabhu.
For a woman spotted by A R Rahman for his chart-breaking Shakalaka Baby number way back in 1997, Vasundhra's CV is indeed very interesting and also reads eclectic. She has been associated with the projects of only the best in the industry the likes of Kamal, Mira and Mohanlal. What is impressive is that she is also not a language-specific artiste (Tamil, Malayalam, and now English-Punjabi).
Truly a chameleon a stunning one at that!
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| Fact File
>>> She began training in Hindustani Classical music since the age of six.
>>> Vasundhara is quite a linguist and knows English, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, a bit of Malayalam and Spanish.
>>> She has sung a song in Lagaan for the British character played by Rachel Shelley.
>>> She used to run away from home to avoid taking music lessons.
>>> In her college days, she was part of an all-girl band.
>>> She was almost chosen heroine by Mani Rathnam for 'Alaypayuthey' opposite Madhavan.
>>> She can do the Flamenco strums on her guitar.
A dash of Das
A tete '-a-tete' with the pretty actress:
On her role in Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding
I just loved the role of Aditi. It was just the kind of role I had always dreamt of. Working with a director like Mira and co-stars like Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbushan Kharbanda, was fabulous.
Was it different from working for a movie like Hey Ram?
Monsoon Wedding was shot in just 30 days. It worked because Naseer put all of us through an intense training and rehearsal period himself. After two weeks of rehearsing our parts and working out the nuances, we actually had a one-week mock shooting at the location itself. By the time the real shooting started, we were all ready.
Hey Ram was different but equally cherishable. Kamal is a hard taskmaster. It was my luck that my first film happened to be with him.
On her role as Aditi in Monsoon Wedding
I just loved the role of Aditi. It was just the kind of role I had always dreamt of. Working with a director like Mira and co-stars like Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbushan Kharbanda, was fabulous.
Was it her looks that made Nair cast her as the bride in her movie?
I don't know. Ask her
On why she was not asked to sing in Monsoon Wedding?
I think the songs in the film were of a different genre.
What next for Vasundhara? Singing or acting?
It is difficult to choose between the two. I am just passionate about singing. I will never quit that. Having said that, I don't mind continuing with my acting as long as the offer is interesting.
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