Monalisa Smile

The movies have been quite an experience for her already. “On day one of shoot,everyone thought I would be confident because I had faced the camera so many times before. But I was nervous and for two days I kept running away from Hrithik,” she laughs,telling us how different a fashion show is from a movie set. There has also been news of Dutta adopting the name Monalisa as per her mentor Bhansali’s suggestion. “You have to ask him about that; as of now I am Monikangana. I can’t change my name without my parents’ consent. But I am flattered to know that Sanjay thinks I look like the Monalisa,” she smiles.

Dutta is no longer the skinny girl she used to be when she entered the fashion industry. “I had to put on some weight for my role,” she says,adding,“I also have a dance number in the movie,for which I learnt some moves. Whenever I watched actors on the sets practicing dance steps,I found it totally weird. I couldn’t believe I was doing the same,” she smiles,as she tells us of the ramifications of being an actor. For someone who was brought up in Assam,she has had a rather different upbringing. “Most people in my town went for conventional careers,I was always exposed to the creative field since my childhood,” says Dutta for whom modeling happened at 18. She then came to Mumbai in 2005. It’s taken five years for this big break in Bollywood and the slow pace that Dutta’s used to,is all set to change.