She was crowned ‘Miss Belgaum’ twice in a row in 2000 and 2001. The beauty crown opened up vistas for this Bangalore girl to take up modelling as a career. Hailing from Ilkal and Saurashtra, her family converses in Sanji dialect which is a mixture of Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi and Marwari.

This five feet and seven inches tall girl, who studied in St Anne’s School in Bangalore before joining the Gogte College in Belgaum for her pre-university education, believes that she was an extra-curricular person right from the beginning.

She says she was good in athletics, baseball, kabaddi, volleyball and basketball, with little interest in studies. Meet Lakshmi Rai, the upcoming actress, whose second Kannada film Snehana Preetina opposite Darshan, hits the screens this Friday. In this interview, she talks about her film career. Excerpts:

How did you get into movies?

I was crazy about films since I was eight. I used to perform in front of the mirror after watching a movie. When I was watching the shoot of Kanti in Belgaum standing amidst the crowd, director Bharat noticed me. They wanted to cast me as actress Ramya’s friend in the same film. I did a couple of scenes in the movie along with a song.

Fortunately or unfortunately, people didn’t notice me in the song as my scenes were all cut. But I got to play the role of a village girl in Shivarajkumar’s film Valmiki, which did not fetch me the due recognition.

How did you manage to get into films when you were busy with academics?

I couldn’t concentrate on my studies after completing my PUC. While I kept myself busy participating in ramp shows and stage shows, I was desperate to get the right acting break. Finally, I got an offer to play the lead in R V Udayakumar’s Tamil film Karka Kasadara.

Which were your other films?

I worked in the Tamil comedy flick Kundaka Mandakka and in the Telugu film Kanchanamala Cable TV opposite Srikanth, which did well commercially. All my initial films started with the alphabet ‘K’. I played a village girl in Dharmapuri opposite Vijaykanth, which did good business at the B and C centres of Tamil Nadu.

My first Hindi film titled Doshi (directed by Arshad Siddiqui) with Priyanshu Chatterjee in the lead, is slated to release soon. I am also doing another Hindi comedy film with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. I am awaiting the release of my Tamil film Nenjai Thodu, a love story which has all shades to my character. I am currently working in the Tamil film Dhaam Dhoom.

Do you feel conversing in an unknown language is an impediment to an artiste?

I found it difficult to communicate in Tamil when I started working on my first Tamil film. But I picked up the language at the insistence of Udayakumar. When it comes to Kannada, I am comfortable as I grew up here.

What is your take on glamour? What is the essence of a good actress?

There’s a clear distinction between glamour and vulgarity. Glamour does not necessarily mean exposing. It signifies the way you walk, talk, behave and carry yourself in public. I don’t mind experimenting with my looks so that I show myself differently in every movie I work in. I should be able to do justice to all kinds of roles to be called an actress.