New chick in flick

Upcoming film Aisha will be presenting to the audiences a fresh onscreen pair – Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor. Another new face, who will be debuting with Aisha and has her hopes pinned upon the film, is Amrita Puri.

Playing the role of a middle-class, simple Delhi girl in the film, Amrita is extremely excited about her big screen debut and shares with Metrolife her experiences while shooting for the film.

A copywriter with a reputed advertising agency for over a year, Amrita always had a passion for acting. “I quit my job to give acting a shot,” she says. “It’s been a dream to become an actor. It’s so tough to make it big when you are not from a filmi background.” It was a message about the auditions for Aisha on a popular social networking site that made Amrita give her dream a shot.

“After the auditions, I was a bit reluctant to take up the role. But the casting director and producer, Rhea (Kapoor), sat down and explained to me about what a fantastic role this was.”

Speaking about the film, she says, “It’s an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. But it’s extremely relevant to Indian society and it’s something that the youth can relate to.”
She plays the role of a simple, Delhi girl in the film, who wears salwars.  “My journey began in June last year. I spent two months working on the character. I had to lose weight, learn to speak fluent Hindi and watch many films like Cruel Intentions, Jab We Met, Guddi’ and Namak Mirch to name a few.”

One of her fondest memories of the film was shooting for a salsa number.“It was mainly Sonam (Kapoor) and Lisa (Haydon), who danced in that number but even then, I had to do a few steps and my partner was extremely tall,” she laughs.

“But my respect for people who are into all these dances became much more after that.” A part of the film was shot in Rishikesh too. “The crew became like a family and all of us stayed in a small hotel as there are no big hotels over there. Everyday, we would play board games and have our own ‘wine and cheese’ evenings,” she laughs again.
She is extremely excited about the film, which is releasing on August 6.

“My producer gave me the audio CD of the film recently. While listening to the songs, I was taken back in time and relived all the experiences of the shoot once again.”
Currently, she hasn’t signed any new project.

“I am holding on to Aisha at present and am waiting for people’s reaction to the film. I have shot for a couple of commercials but I haven’t undertaken any new project,” she signs off.