Over the years, there has been a huge transformation from the glamourous Yaana to the frank, honest and in her own words, a “happier” Yaana.
“There was a time when I enjoyed the attention and did things I wouldn’t have done. But today, I no longer want anyone to tell me that I am good-looking. I don’t even make an effort to look glamourous. I have started looking within for inner beauty and give least importance to the outer part of me,” says Yaana, who was in the City as a showstopper for her friend Neeru.
Coming from someone, who started as a model, this is a shocker. “I share a close relationship with Neeru so I agreed to come back on the ramp for her. But frankly, I feel modelling is really dumb. It’s not creatively challenging anymore,” she says. “I love to learn, challenge myself and grow in the process.”
But if there is one thing Yaana is open to, it is working in South Indian films. “The people in South are honest and professional. I enjoyed working and dancing with Prabhu Deva and had fun time shooting for the song in Jogi. It’s something I don’t mind continuing.”
Her stint in Bollywood was short with a few item songs to her credit. Yaana says she does not miss even a minute of it. “I wasn’t getting interesting projects. Plus, the people out there are very fake.”
Gradually, she directed her energy towards writing and making music. Now, she is busy writing a health book and making pop music with hard-hitting lyrics. She is also particular that her new blonde look does not mean she is going to do a Britney Spears.
Music, she says, is a soothing therapeutic process. When she first began writing songs, most of them were in English and revolved around relationships, pain and anger.
“That was when I was sorting things out in my personal life. But now, I am a happier person and have begun to see the real beauty the world has to offer.”