Amrita Rao: Is gossip good for you?

Amrita Rao is back in action with newcomer Nikhil Dwivedi in E Niwas's My Name is Anthony Gonsalvez. Meet the actress in a freewheeling chat as she talks about her forthcoming film, Shahid Kapoor and a lot more...

Tell us something about My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves.

I am playing a Christian girl named Riya. Thankfully, I didn't have to speak in Konkani or in broken Hindi in the film. I play an assistant director working for one of the leading female director, Lillete Dubey. She is a confident and a very independent girl.

Did you do any homework before you started shooting?

I observed many assistant directors. In fact I observed all assistant directors on the sets of My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves. I observed their body language; how they maintain their continuity but one incident I want to share with you. I remember when I had gone to give my audition for Main Hoon Naa at Shahrukh Khan's office. Before Farah would come I was sitting in the office very anxious, I met Farah's assistant Jagrat. I still remember his name and asked him to explain the scene I had to perform before Farah. You know how eager assistant directors are because they are also in a learning stage and what ever you ask they are there for you. He explained the shot so well and it was one of the difficult scenes of the film where I break down with Shah Rukh where I tell him about my father, how he always wanted a son. Jagrat explained it so well that when Farah came and asked me if he had explained the scene to me, I said yes, so she said let's do it. I performed the scene before Jagrat who played SRK so well that Farah immediately said you are in.

In the posters of My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, there are two questions you have to answer. First one, the four fingers shown, are they yours because you take auditions? And the second one, only Nikhil is shown on the posters, why are others sidelined?

Good questions. The fingers are not mine but of Lillete Dubey and answer to your second question, since I have done many movies and present doing some movie, people know me. This film is very important and big for Nikhil's in his career and I hope this happens to be best launching pad for him. I wish him all the best.