Sameera cries at Kaalpurush's release

Sameera Reddy got highly emotional when her first Bengali film, Buddhadev Dasgupta's Kaalpurush (also starring Mithun Chakraborty and Prasenjit) saw the light of day after three years. She attended the premiere last week in Kolkata.

"Kaalpurush went to almost every film festival. I was so happy when we won the National Award. But it broke my heart that it was not getting a release here. I had poured my heart and soul into it. So when Dada (Buddhadev Dasgupta) told me that it was getting released, I sobbed. My tears were an expression of my joy, frustration and anguish."

Sameera adds, "I am emotionally attached to the film as I have grown as an actress in it. After my commercial experience in Musafir and being projected as a glamorous actress, I learnt the nuances of acting from Dada.

It wasn't easy playing the role of a wife and prostitute in one movie (Kaalpurush) because each has distinct personalities. It was Dada who would tell me that in every scene I have to understand where the character is coming from and where I want to take it."

The actress is happy with the reaction to the film. "One critic said that she couldn't believe that the same bimbette Mini in Race was travelogue writer Supriya in Kaalpurush. Earlier people used to call me the Indian Jennifer Lopez but to me, the biggest compliment was when Dada called me Smita Patil after Kaalpurush. She was my icon."

About Race, she says, "It's unbelievable that people have given such a positive response to my comic timing. I had a great partner in Anil Kapoor. It was tough playing a bimbette but I just listened to the directors Abbas Mustan who would tell me that the dumber you are the better, the comedy scenes will turn out."

Sameera begins shooting for two comedies in July and has completed dubbing for the the animation film, Mahayodha. Then she begins shooting for Aruna Raje's film on Naxalism. "I love jhatkas and matkas but I love these kinds of films too," she says.