Sammir clears the dirty waters

By Subhash K. Jha, IndiaFM
Tuesday, 27, November, 2007

Sammir Dattani is supposed to be at loggerheads with his Dhoom Dhadaka co-star Shaad Randhawa. "That's the rumour that came back after the long schedule in Bangkok. But Shaad and I are certainly not fighting. Not after we both dressed up as women for Dhoom Dhadaka . A joint drag-act tends to drag you close to the guy who gets into a dress next to you," grins Sammir who has two Hindi films the comedy Dhoom Dhadaka and the marital comedy Rajan Wagdarey Love Ka Tadka coming up early next year. "And my Big Break, Mani Shankar's Mukhbiir where I've one of the best roles ever written for a 20-something actor, opens in January 2008." Sammir has his fingers crossed.Travelling non-stop between Bombay and cities as distant as Bangalore and Bangkok for films in Hindi and Kannada, Sammir Dattani feels thoroughly disoriented. "If for no other award I'm eligible to be the Most Frequent Flier of the year," he jokes. And now adding to his woes was a stage performance on Saturday night for Shashi and Anu Ranjan's Indian Television Academy awards.

"I had never been on stage before for any live show. Never danced for anything but the camera on the large screen. I had no choice but to get over my stage fright because the producers of my film Dhoom Dhadaka are hosting the awards. There was no way I could wriggle out of it. Fortunately, it went well for me. I didn't miss a single step." Apparently, Sammir refused to initially go on stage. But was persuaded by the producers to change his mind.

All four members of the Dhoom Dhadaka cast—Sammir, Shaad Randhawa, Shama Sikandar and Aarti Chabria –were on stage together. Sammir took two days off from the shooting off his Kannada film to rehearse for the show.