On
the
eve
of
the
release
of
her
latest
film
Red
Alert
–
The
War
Within,
Sameera
Reddy
said
that
it
was
director
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta
who
had
taught
her
that
an
actress
can
move
out
of
the
typical
stereo-typed
Bollywood
film,
which
does
not
offer
much
scope
to
actresses
most
of
the
time.
When
I
met
her
for
this
interview
at
The
Raheja
Classic
Club
where
she
had
come
in
her
glamorous
avatar
dressed
in
a
skin
hugging
black
pant
and
a
sexy
T
shirt,
indeed
a
far
cry
from
the
character
of
the
deglamorized
Lakshmi
that
she
plays
in
the
film
Red
Alert
–
The
War
Within,
which
features
her
in
a
pivotal
role
along
with
stalwarts
like
Naseeruddin
Shah,
Ashish
Vidyarthi,
Seema
Biswas,
Gulshan
Grover,
Bhagyashree
and
last
but
not
the
least
Suniel
Shetty.
Sameera
Reddy
is
modest
enough
to
confess
that
though
she
does
concede
that
she
has
rendered
a
sterling
performance
as
a
deglamorized
rape
victim
in
Ananth
Mahadevan"s
Red
Alert,
it
is
not
the
best
performance
in
her
career.
Sameera
continues,
“It
is
one
of
the
best
performances
because
I
still
feel
that
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta"s
Kaalpurush
is
my
best
role
till
date
as
an
actress.
However,
all
said
and
done,
I
want
to
keep
on
learning
every
day
as
an
actress.
To
get
into
the
skin
of
my
character,
I
had
to
do
a
lot
of
research.
Anant
Mahadevan
made
me
read
a
few
books
including
Red
Sun-Travels
in
a
Naxalite
Country
written
by
Sudeep
Chakraborty.
I
also
made
it
a
point
to
watch
a
few
documentaries
on
the
naxalite
movement,
like
Running
Out
of
Time
directed
by
Abhijay
Karlekar.
I
was
amazed
by
what
I
saw.
It
was
disturbing
to
know
that
a
whole
lot
of
adivasis
were
displaced
from
Jharkhand
when
coal
and
steel
industries
came
up".
Sameera
confesses
that
enacting
the
role
of
the
poor
girl
Lakshmi,
who
is
raped
by
the
cops,
was
a
different
experience
for
her
as
an
actress,
because
she
had
to
not
only
sport
a
different
look
altogether,
but
also
act
without
putting
on
any
make
up.
She
had
to
be
deglamorized
unlike
most
of
her
roles
in
Bollywood,
which
needed
the
actress
to
be
decked
up
from
top
to
toe.
I
had
to
feel
the
character
and
hence
had
to
be
what
you
can
say
bereft
of
the
Bollywood
style,
Sameera
gushes.
Though
she
admits
that
the
role
was
different,
Sameera
concedes
that
it
was
not
tough.
She
already
had
the
taste
of
'different" film
as
she
had
done
films
like
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta"s
Kaalpurush
with
Mithun
Chakraborty
and
Mira
Nair"s
Migration,
a
film
on
Aids.
“It
was
actually
director
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta
who
had
taught
me
that
I,
as
an
actress,
can
also
do
a
film
other
than
the
routine
and
typical
stereo-typed
Bollywood
films,
which
do
not
offer
any
scope
to
actresses
most
of
the
time,"
Sameera
says
without
mincing
words.
Sameera
does
not
hesitate
to
give
credit
to
her
director
Anant
Mahadevan
for
enabling
her
to
do
her
act
in
the
film.
“It
was
Ananth
Mahadevan
who
educated
me
on
my
character.
When
I
first
read
the
script
I
was
quite
pre-occupied
with
my
career
in
Bollywood.
It
did
not
sink
in
that
it
was
the
opportunity
for
me
to
do
a
different
role
in
my
career.
It
was
Ananth
Mahadevan
who
encouraged
me
to
sit
down
to
work
on
this
character
in
Red
Alert."
Besides
Red
Alert,
which
had
its
world
premiere
six
months
back
in
Goa
at
the
International
Film
festival
of
India,
Sameera
is
now
also
doing
a
film
in
Hindi
and
Malayalam
each.
“I
have
to
buck
up
for
yet
another
hard
hitting
role
in
Nagesh
Kukunoor"s
Yeh
Hausla
in
which
I
have
been
pitted
opposite
John
Abraham
and
a
Malayalam
film
called
Oru
Naal
Varum
in
which
Mohanlal
is
my
co-actor.
It
is
actually
my
debut
in
Malayalam.
I
have
already
made
my
debut
in
Bengali
with
Kaalpurush
and
have
also
done
a
film
each
in
Tamil
and
Telugu."
In
Yeh
Hausla,
which
she
says
she
had
signed
almost
around
the
same
time
when
she
had
signed
Red
Alert,
Sameera
is
playing
yet
another
deglamorized
character
which
did
not
need
her
to
put
on
make-up
in
front
of
the
camera.
“I
play
the
role
of
a
Rajasthani
woman
who
is
fiery.
Though
I
too
am
fiery
in
real
life,
I
am
not
as
fiery
as
my
character
in
Yeh
Hausla
who
would
not
even
hesitate
to
dig
a
sharp
gupti
(knife)
into
the
stomach
of
the
guy
who
crosses
her
path
in
the
film."
Ask
Sameera
whether
she
intends
taking
up
more
such
arty
projects
which
require
her
to
sink
in
her
teeth
into
her
characters
and
she
shoots
back,
“I
do
not
plan
things
in
life,
because
I
take
life
as
it
comes
along.
This
applies
to
my
career
too.
I
am
now
all
set
to
do
a
film
called
Bullet
Train
for
Priyadarshan,
where
my
co-actors
will
be
Ajay
Devgn
and
Suniel
Shetty.
It
was
a
pleasure
working
with
an
actor
like
Sunil
Shetty
in
Red
Alert."
It
does
not
rattle
her
at
all
that
she
has
not
bagged
any
award
for
acting
in
Hindi
films
till
date.
“Sanjay
Gupta
once
compared
me
to
Jennifer
Lopez
as
far
as
glam
quotient
is
concerned
and
a
filmmaker
like
Buddhdeb
Dasgupta,
who
cast
me
in
not
one
but
two
films
–
Kaalpurush
and
Voyeurs
had
compared
me
to
Smita
Patil.
What
more
could
I
ask
for?
I
think
compliments
like
these
acts
like
a
tonic
for
you
more
than
even
the
coveted
national
award.
Isn"t
it?"
The
smart
and
sexy
Sameera
signs
off
by
stating
that
the
reason
that
she
has
survived
in
the
rat
race
in
Bollywood
amidst
cut
throat
competition
from
the
time
she
had
made
her
debut
with
Maine
Dil
Tujko
Diya
till
Red
Alert
is
that
every
year
she
makes
it
a
point
to
learn
not
only
about
acting,
but
also
about
endurance
in
showbiz.