A file picture of Nethra Raghuraman

Her lean college-girl frame with hair tied carelessly into a bun and face sans make-up was a far cry from the glam doll image of Nethra Raghuraman.

Sitting in Hyatt Regency on Sunday morning and helping herself to generous scoops of mishti doi at lunch, she started to talk and reveal glimpses of the Nethra we know ? an independent woman who knows her mind.

?Yes, I love to do films and I?m a natural actor but I will do so on my own terms. If that means less work, so be it,? she said, pausing only to name-drop what is not her kind of movie: ?I would never do a Julie, I don?t know why Neha did it, it?s so badly made. But then each to her own.?

Personally, Nethra?s happy with four films that she has in hand right now. ?All except one of them is a thriller, so you can begin to call me the queen of unreleased thrillers, all of which will hopefully leave me thrilled with their box-office responses,? she giggled.

Besides Inteqaam where she shares screen space with Manoj Bajpai and Ishaa Koppikar, she has Tum Ho Naa with Jackie Shroff and Husn directed by Imtiaz Khan in her kitty. Predictably, the one film Nethra is all excited about is an adaptation of Munshi Prem Chand?s Kafan which has Rajpal Yadav and Sadhu Meher as the two male leads. ?I literally smeared mud on my face to get that rustic look,? she reveals.

From the rustic look to rust coloured make-up, the bubbly lady is game for everything. ?I want to do a really sexy and sensuous item number. Though I can?t move like Shilpa Shetty, I will do a good job,? she says, adding ?films is what I would want to do?.

Bye ramp, hi Bollywood?