Bhumika dreams of Hollywood

When asked if the next step in her career would be a Hollywood film, Bhumika Chawla's face lights up with a sweet smile.

"I would love to do a Hollywood film," she says.

But she wouldn't do just any film.

"It would have to be a good role just like my debut in Hindi films," she firmly says.

And how would her typical Indian looks fit into a Hollywood film?

"Salma Hayek has Asian looks, but she has done brilliant movies. If the role is right, my look can work," came her confident reply.

She is banking on Gandhi My Father to catapult her to Hollywood because it is being shot simultaneously in Hindi and English and will be released in the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the film, she plays Gandhi's daughter-in-law Gulab Gandhi, and is cast opposite Akshaye Khanna.

The film about Mahatma Gandhi's life is adapted from the play Gandhi versus Gandhi and directed by Feroz Khan, who also directed the play.

Bhumika made an impressive Bollywood debut with the film Tere Naam starring Salman Khan.

Her sweet, simple look suited the role of the naive young girl Salman's character falls in love with.

Her performance brought her nominations in the best actress category of every major Bollywood award.

Her first visit to Dubai last year was memorable because she won the award for best debut performance at the Zee Cine Awards 2004 held here.

The actress was back in Dubai last week to promote the recently opened Bharat Artistic Yoga Centre.

She credited Bharat Thakur's innovative version of yoga for her well-toned body and glowing complexion.

"Earlier I went to the gym, but now I prefer yoga because it takes care of the body and the mind," Bhumika says.

Yoga tones the body gently and makes me feel calm and peaceful, she adds.

"It has also made my body more flexible, which helps me in performing the dance numbers that are part of being a Bollywood actress."

Before she came into the limelight with Tere Naam, Bhumika was already an established actress in South India and has starred in over 14 Telegu and Tamil films.

But she claimed that although in her school days she was interested in theatre, she had never planned to be a film actress.

She started as a commercial model.

"My career has moved a step at a time and I have always tried to give my best to every project that I do," she says.

Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor noticed her when he was making a Hindi remake of Telugu film Khushi. Kapoor recommended her for Tere Naam.

"I took on Tere Naam because I wanted my Bollywood debut to be different from the run of the mill Hindi films," she says.

She hardly expected the film to be so successful, and the awards and the appreciation from fans is "an unexpected bonus", she admits.

Although her subsequent films Run and Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha did not do so well at the box office, Bhumika has many Bollywood offers.

"As an artist I have a thirst for creativity and doing a variety of different roles. But I only take on films with a good script and a role that I feel I can do with conviction," she says.

In Dil Jo Bhi Kahe she had the opportunity to work with Amitabh Bachchan.

"It was a fantastic experience and a dream come true. I learnt so much everyday just by observing him," she says.

And would she do the bare dare roles that are currently the trend in Bollywood?

"Those roles are okay for actresses who have the courage and style to carry them off. But I would not be comfortable in such roles," she says.

"But you can never say never. I have done an item number in Silsilay because I am playing an actress in the film. But I do try to avoid films that require unnecessary exposure," she adds quickly.