MIRROR, MIRROR

The lovely Lisa Lazarus landed in Mumbai early this week, amid the terror mayhem, for her role as the second lead opposite Salman Khan in Veer.

Miss UK Lisa Lazarus, the much touted lookalike of Katrina Kaif, arrives in Bollywood with little homework and much security

The lovely Lisa Lazarus landed in Mumbai early this week, amid the terror mayhem, for her role as the second lead opposite Salman Khan in Veer. She brought along with her a baggage of controversy for the security cover provided to her. 8220;I didn8217;t demand it; I8217;m not a diva yet,8221; she says. 8220;My family and my agent were apprehensive of letting me come to India soon after the attacks so I just took precautions,8221; says the 21-year-old Miss UK. 8220;But I don8217;t mind the attention. I can get used to this.8221;

Lazarus, who has been learning Bollywood steps at a dance school in Versova, made it to stories for her resemblance to Katrina Kaif, but one look at the petite, light-eyed model and you can8217;t agree more with Khan. He8217;d said that if Lazarus resembled Kaif, so did all fair-skinned, slim girls.

Surprisingly, though, Lazarus has yet to meet Kaif or Khan. 8220;I8217;ll meet him on the sets,8221; she smiles. She8217;s also just begun to learn Hindi to impress her 8220;mentor8221; but can barely speak anything beyond 8220;Namaste India8221;. And does she know what veer means? 8220;Oh, actually I don8217;t. What does it mean?8221; she asks, fluttering faux eyelashes. Lazarus, meanwhile, seems to be in awe of Bollywood. Probably one reason she has agreed to do the film without having read the script. 8220;It8217;s a love story and the character I play, I have been told, is very much like me,8221; she says. 8220;You have no idea how big Bollywood is in the UK. I could not have missed this one chance to be here.8221;

The Welsh beauty hasn8217;t watched many Hindi movies either. Besides Salman, whom she constantly raves about, she knows of Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. 8220;I can8217;t remember the names of other Bollywood actors at Madame Tussauds but I8217;ve seen Shah Rukh Khan8217;s statue there. He8217;s very good looking.8221; Whom does she prefer? 8220;Shah Rukh, because I think he8217;s closer to my age,8221; she grins. But they8217;re all 43, we mutter under our breath.

Lazarus knows there8217;s a lot she has to learn, and that a beauty pageant might look like cakewalk compared with the demands of Bollywood. 8220;I hope I8217;m here for long,8221; she sighs.