LUCKY BREAK

The remake of Victoria 203 introduced the 17-year-old Soniya Mehra to movie buffs nearly three years back. Unfortunately,the film bombed at the box office.

The remake of Victoria 203 introduced the 17-year-old Soniya Mehra to movie buffs nearly three years back. Unfortunately,the film bombed at the box office. Finding it difficult to deal with deal with failure,the young daughter of the late actor Vinod Mehra left the country for six months.

Many of my dads friends had advised me not to do films at such a young age. But I thought Victoria would be a good film and remakes had a good market then, she says in an introspective mood. She left India for six months after the film released. I shouldnt have let it affect me,but I did. You learn from your mistakes, says Soniya,who is all excited about re-entering the industry with the Abhay Deol-starrer Basra. The shooting for it starts in August.

There is more in her kitty. I will soon sign another mega project and the shooting starts mid-June, discloses the chirpy actress when we meet her at Café Basilico,Bandra,which is a stones throw away from her house. I come here all the time, says the fashionista in leggings and a dressy top.

She is recuperating from fever but can barely hide her excitement about Basra. This is a film on the narcotics trade and human trafficking. It is an intense,dark and edgy film. And I play a very interesting character, she says. The 20-year-old tells us how excited she was when she got a call from Forbidden Films,saying she was chosen for the part,two months after her audition. I am not here for the glitz and glamour. I am here because I am passionate about cinema, she adds.

It is to achieve all this and more that she spent the last three years of her life grooming herself both physically and mentally. I was working on my self and on my Hindi;I did a self make up course,a couple of acting courses in London and also learnt yoga which helped me a lot, says the 21-year-old,looking skyward and hoping to make her dad proud one day.

During the course of the conversation she spots a friend at the café and excuses herself to greet her. When back,she tells: Although I havent lived in Mumbai all my life,I used to come here so often that I know many people here. Mehra was just two years old when her dad passed away. My brother Rohan and I then moved to Kenya to live with our grandparents. At 14,I moved to London where I studied theatre,drama and singing. I started training very young, she says as she sips her fresh lime soda.

Though away from India,Soniya stayed in touch with Bollywood. It is huge in Kenya. A Hindi film would release every week and we never missed it. She also kept visiting Mumbai to meet her mom (Kiran),who was busy completing her dads last film Gurudev,and made friends here. I have grown up with Sonam (Kapoor). Anil Uncle and Sunita Aunty are my second family. I am also very close to Shraddha (Kapoor),Shazahn (Padamsee) and Prateik (Babbar), she says. But it is actress Rekha that she really looks up to. I simply love her. She has been a very strong support for my mom and me after dad passed away, she states.

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However,acting is not the only thing on her agenda. She wants to cut a music album,design a fashion label and also publish a book. All this will take a while. Right now,its movies.

DADS THE BEST
* Ghar
* Anuraag
* Do Phool
* Bemisaal

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