She is Subhash Ghai’s second foreign heroine after Kisna's Antonio Barnett. Lena (pronounced Leena) will be the screen name of Lena Christianson, a Thai model and actor who will partner Shreyas Talpade in the Nagesh Kukunoor caper for Ghai's Mukta Arts' new film Bombay To Bangkok.
Lena exudes generous exuberance. Gregarious and friendly, she reminds you a wee bit about how Helen must have looked in her twenties. “My mom’s a huge fan of Hindi films back home in Thailand,” she gushes, as if that explains landing up with a major Hindi project that will be partly shot back home.
“There is one movie whose name I do not recall that she has watched 20 times.” Lena's exposure to Hindi films is thus general, though she loved Dor, the latest Kukunoor release, and intends to catch up with Ghai's output too.
So does she know how big a name is Subhash Ghai? Those 32-carat teeth flash again. “Yeah, I do have an idea how big he is!” “I am a Thai model who seriously got into acting,” she says on a more serious note.
“I did a television series back home and anchored shows on health, fitness and exercise, which I believe in a lot.”
After this Lena acted in the English film Tesseract in which she had the challenging role of a hired female assassin. She even did shows for a Californian cable television channel before Kukunoor cast her in this film .“I play someone quite similar to my real self, so Nagesh told me that I should act naturally. I will be speaking only English and Thai in the film, though there will come some words in Hindi,” she tells you.
But as the solo heroine in a Hindi film with songs, will she go song-less? Lena laughs and says, “Well, I am going to be a part of a funny song!” Lest we misunderstand, she does not find the song oddly humourous but means a comedy number.
The only previous Hindi film song involving a Thai talent was the title-track of Dhoom by Tata Young, I tell her. Lena animatedly admits to knowing Tata very well, having shared a common modelling firm not too long ago, but confesses that she hasn't heard the bilingual cult song.
And if Bombay To Bangkok hits the bulls'-eye, can we hope to see her in more Hindi films, probably speaking, singing and dancing in Hindi? “Oh, I love dancing! I have watched some of your songs at home - they are great. But about more films in India - I'd love to do them, but let me see, I can't say anything now!” And another generous smile and a bout of laughter follows as she gracefully rises and serenades to the stage for the formal launch celebration.