John's uncanny bonding with Anaitha

The enormously talented Anaitha Nair who is 24 years old and played a 17 year old terminally ill girl in the film Aashayein seems to share an eerie bonding with actor John Abraham. Like John, Anaitha is half Malayali and half Parsi. And out of the handful of feature films she has done so far, 3 have been with John, the latest being a role in the Hindi remake of Kaakha Kaakha.

“I can"t explain it," the talkative and chirpy bubbly Bangalorian brims over with excitement as she mulls over the coincidence of bumping into John so often in her career. “I was in Aashayein, Abbas Tyrewala"s Jhootha Hi Sahi and now Kaakha Kaakha. It isn"t as if I planned being with John. It just happened."Shooting in London for Jhootha Hi Sahi proved a blessing. It was her first visit to the city and she took to it like a fish to the water. In London, Anaitha bumped into the man she is now engaged to.

“Yes, I met Akhil Nair in London. We were in school together, then we lost touch. We met in London after years and then we kept in touch through e-mail. Now we"re engaged. We"re getting married next year. He is a shippy, though fortunately onshore, so he won"t be away for long periods. We all know stories of men who visit several ports," twinkles Anaitha, who describes her parents in Bangalore as “totally chilled out."

“They never stopped me from doing anything. I was always interested in acting. When I expressed a desire to get into movies, they were fine by it." When Anaitha arrived in Mumbai four years ago, she had no idea what she was going to do. “Luckily I had lots of relatives in Mumbai. So I never felt alone." Another bizarre coincidence in the life of this anything-can-happen girl? Check this out. “Three of my films so far have come to me by default. I was not the first choice for Chak De. A girl called Rushita was to do the role. She backed out at the last minute. For Aashayein, Ayesha Takiya was offered the role first. Even Jhootha Hi Sahi had gone to VJ Juhi first."

In Jhootha Hi Sahi, Anaitha plays a South Indian girl named Sushma Subramaniam. “But everyone calls my character Sushi, as in the fish. I love my character though it isn"t a central one."

Pragmatic down-to-earth and sporting Anaitha honestly admits she is not cut out to be the conventional leading lady. “I am not glamorous enough. When Nagesh Kukunoor came to me with the role in Aashayein I was zapped. I remember I was Class 10 when I had seen Nagesh"s Hyderabad Blues."

For the role of the terminally ill girl, Anaitha had to shave her head and shed the kilos. “I had no problems going bald for the role. Losing about 5-6 kilos was not difficult either. But growing my hair back was more difficult than I had thought. In fact, when I met Abbas Tyrewala for Jhootha Hi Sahi I was bald." That explains the instant bonding.