We saw her opposite Imran Khan in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na and now Manjari Phadnis is looking forward to her role opposite Ranvir Shorey and Rajat Kapoor in I Am 24. “
“The film is directed by Saurabh Shukla. My character, Kanak Dutta, chats with Rajat Kapoor’s character online. He is actually 42 but he says the opposite — I am 24, which is basically the crux of the whole film,” she says.
Although she is just surfacing in Bollywood, Manjari has a fair bit of experience in regional cinema. “I did a Bengali film called Faltu, which won a National Award. It was a completely de-glamourised role,” she explains. “I’ve done a Telugu film called Sidhu From Srikakulam, and a Tamil film, Muthirai. Doing regional cinema is an unusual experience, besides learning the languages, the environment is completely different too.”
Manjari also has a currently untitled new Telugu film lined up opposite Raja. Her father was in the army and she spent her childhood moving around being exposed to different cultures and cities. She believes this experience has helped her in her acting. “I lived in seven different cities and it helped me to understand people better,” she says. “In school I was an extrovert, who would dance and sing. I would look into the mirror and give myself a situation where I would have to react as if I was in the role of Miss India.”
