Anjana Sukhani never dreamed she would be a movie star. Concentrating on her studies, she obtained an MBA in International Business and expected to find herself in the new globalised economy with an international conglomerate. Instead, she found herself in the underated Hum Dum, opposite Romit Raaj – and her life suddenly took a different path. “I eventually got more absorbed into the profession,” she explains, “I trained myself as a dancer and everything just fell into place.”
Anjana then developed her presence in the industry with roles in Salaam-e-Ishq, Sunday and Golmaal Returns. “I did fear getting lost amid the big stars in Salaam-e-Ishq,” she says, “Thank God, I had the right people supporting me. I was also appreciated for my role – that was a big reward. Sunday was great fun. Being a light-hearted comedy, it was a very easy ride. And with Golmaal, I knew Rohit Shetty and the crew from before, so it was a piece of cake.”
Her next movie is Jai Veeru which also stars Dia Mirza and Fardeen Khan, in which she plays a model who falls in love with Kunal Khemu only to find he is not the guy she thought he was. Although she has gravitated towards comedy, Anjana would like to see herself exploring a wider range of roles: “I want to do rom-coms and more commercial masala movies,” she confides but equally she feels that comedy is an important skill to learn, “Comedy is all about striking a balance with the timing being spot on. As an actor, it is nice making people laugh, especially with all the stress surrounding us.”
