(From top) Soha with mother Sharmila Tagore, with Dil Maange More co-star Shahid Kapur and the Antarmahal look

In Calcutta to launch a new line of platinum jewellery at Orra, actress Soha Ali Khan spoke to Pratim D. Gupta about her film career, her mother and her future plans.

Was your Bengali debut in Iti Srikanto planned?

Nothing was planned. It just happened to be my first film. I liked the script and with my mother also having started her career with a Bengali film, I decided to go ahead. I always knew that I would definitely be doing Hindi cinema. But here in Bengal, there are such great directors and such powerful roles for women?

Now that your Hindi film is due for release, in hindsight would you have liked this one to come ahead of your Bengali film?

No. I am very proud of Iti Srikanto. It travelled to four or five noted festivals around the world. It gave me a lot of good performance reviews. Even people in Mumbai have appreciated my work in the film.

But it didn?t get you a pan-Indian audience?

No, it didn?t. It was very much a regional film. So I am hoping my Bollywood debut Dil Maange More will be able to achieve that.

What is Dil Maange More about?

It is a light romantic comedy with some great music. It is about young people and should appeal to everyone.

But at the end of the day it is a three heroine film?

Yes, it is a three heroine film. But it is very well scripted and I know my character very well. So I am not bothered that it has two other heroines.

What is your role in the film?

I play Neha, a young, ambitious small-town girl, who is extremely stubborn. My partner is Shahid Kapur but I leave him to go to Mumbai for work. Then again, Neha is very sensitive.

In the middle of all this, you have squeezed in another Bengali film, Antarmahal?

Yes, that?s what I want to do. Swing to and fro. There lies the challenge of being able to do all kinds of roles in all kinds of cinema. You know what, I had to shoot for a Dil Maange More song in the middle of an Antarmahal shooting schedule! I had a real identity crisis then. In real life, I was neither of the two characters I was playing in the two films. That I felt was my real acting challenge.

You have acted with two of the hottest Bollywood stars in Abhishek Bachchan and Shahid Kapur. What do you think about their acting skills?

Being a newcomer, I am hardly anyone to comment. But both are different. Abhishek works very hard, is very sensitive and does a lot of homework. Shahid works hard too. He is very focussed and is very spontaneous.

Is there any acting method you follow?

I do not believe in acting styles. I just try to be a very sensitive person. I do a lot of homework for my films. I just want my acting to be consistent throughout a film.

Your look in Antarmahal is so similar to your mother?s look in Devi?

Yes, that?s true, but I don?t think that?s contrived. It?s just that we look alike and our get-ups in both the films are similar.

How much of a guide has your mother been in your acting career?

She has helped me a lot with my Bengali films. Especially with diction, how to handle two different camera angles, controlling expressions, using eyes. My mother is a very wise woman? (smiles)

Which of your mother?s films do you like best?

Among her Hindi films, I like Daag, Mausam and Aradhana. In Bengali, I like Devi, the recent release Abar Aranye. However, I haven?t seen Nayak.

What are your other forthcoming Hindi films?

There is an untitled Sahara Percept project directed by Hriday Shetty where I play Dimple Kapadia?s daughter. Rishi Kapoor is also there in the film and Sameer Dattani has been paired opposite me. Then there?s David Dhawan?s multi-starrer Shaadi No. 1 co-starring Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan and Zayed Khan.