Ayesha Dharker isn’t completely overwhelmed by the fact that she has a role in what is definitely the year’s biggest film anywhere in the world. ‘‘That’s probably because I’m in it only for about a minute,’’ she says of her part as Queen Jamillia of Naboo, in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones, which opened across the globe on Friday. The actress, currently in London rehearsing for her role as a saucy temptress in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical, Bombay Dreams, which premieres on June 19, attended the London premiere of the Star Wars film earlier this week, where she says she was reunited with some of the film’s cast and crew including Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, and actor Hayden Christensen. At the premiere, Dharker says that she spotted fellow Star Wars actor Samuel L. Jackson whom she hadn’t met before. Incidentally, Jackson had himself recommended Dharker’s name to the Star Wars casting director after he was bowled over by her performance in The Terrorist. ‘‘I thought I should take the opportunity to thank him for that gesture, so I went up to him and did exactly that,’’ the young actress reveals. In return, she says, Jackson gushed some more about her work in The Terrorist and said he looked forward to working with her in the future. ‘‘Even if he said that just to be polite, I was delighted,’’ she exclaims. Although she says that Indians should not treat her role in Attack of the Clones as her launch pad to Hollywood, Dharker says she’s not unaware of the unprecedented popularity of the Star Wars franchise. ‘‘The enormity of it begins to hit you slowly,’’ she says, revealing that she has begun receiving congratulatory letters from hundreds of fans from around the world. ‘‘It’s an amazing movie,’’ she says of the latest installment, insisting that Attack of the Clones is likely to appeal to die-hard fans of the original three films. ‘‘This one is in the tradition of the earlier films, not so much like The Phantom Menace,’’ she explains. Describing her own role as ‘‘a sweet, small part’’, Dharker says she resembles a penguin in that elaborate costume. The actress, who has been living in London for over a year now, is bound to a six-month contract for Bombay Dreams, following which Sophiya Haque will fill in her shoes.
