<p>But the actress, who took up parallel films after a few commercial ones, says she has no complaints that the hype surrounding the Oscar-nominated film did no good to her career.<br /><br />“I got more attention and stardom than I wanted at the time. There was too much hype around for me to handle. I have no complaints,” the actress said.<br /><br />Gracy also starred in Rajkumar Hirani’s superhit ‘Munnabhai MBBS’, but was replaced by actress Vidya Balan in the sequel ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’.<br /><br />Challenging roles<br /><br />“I knew that Raju was going to make a series of films. It was my decision to take up more challenging and serious kind of cinema rather than commercial films,” Gracy said. <br /><br />She gracefully moved on to a number of issue-based films in order to satisfy her creative side as an actress. Her latest film ‘Aseema’ has Gracy playing the lead character of a single mother who transforms her life from a simple village girl to an independent woman.<br /><br />“I am playing the title character Aseema, who is the daughter of a zamindar, but goes on to lead a life of her own and make a place for herself in society,” said Gracy.<br /><br />The film, directed by Sishir Mishra, is based on an Oriya novel written by Shailaja Kumari Aparajita Mohanty and is set to release on December 18.<br /><br />“I was apprehensive about accepting the role because I did not think I could live up to it. The story demanded a powerful actress like Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil,” said Gracy, who stars opposite actor Aseem Merchant in the film.<br /><br />The film spans 16 to 60 years of Aseema’s life and has Gracy play a single mother too. “I did not act in the film, I actually lived through the experiences of the character,” said Gracy.<br /><br />The actress has been missing from the commercial scene for sometime now and has concentrated on women-centric art house films, be it in Hindi or in regional languages.<br /><br />“I enjoy parallel films more and have a few of them lined up in Tamil, Telegu and Malayalam. I’m playing the sarpanch of a village in a film called ‘The White Land’ which is set in Gujarat,” said Gracy.<br /><br />“I am also doing some commercial films in Bollywood like ‘Chand Milta Hai Chand’ in which I play a radio jockey and ‘Midnight’, which is a thriller,” the actress said.<br /></p>
<p>But the actress, who took up parallel films after a few commercial ones, says she has no complaints that the hype surrounding the Oscar-nominated film did no good to her career.<br /><br />“I got more attention and stardom than I wanted at the time. There was too much hype around for me to handle. I have no complaints,” the actress said.<br /><br />Gracy also starred in Rajkumar Hirani’s superhit ‘Munnabhai MBBS’, but was replaced by actress Vidya Balan in the sequel ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’.<br /><br />Challenging roles<br /><br />“I knew that Raju was going to make a series of films. It was my decision to take up more challenging and serious kind of cinema rather than commercial films,” Gracy said. <br /><br />She gracefully moved on to a number of issue-based films in order to satisfy her creative side as an actress. Her latest film ‘Aseema’ has Gracy playing the lead character of a single mother who transforms her life from a simple village girl to an independent woman.<br /><br />“I am playing the title character Aseema, who is the daughter of a zamindar, but goes on to lead a life of her own and make a place for herself in society,” said Gracy.<br /><br />The film, directed by Sishir Mishra, is based on an Oriya novel written by Shailaja Kumari Aparajita Mohanty and is set to release on December 18.<br /><br />“I was apprehensive about accepting the role because I did not think I could live up to it. The story demanded a powerful actress like Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil,” said Gracy, who stars opposite actor Aseem Merchant in the film.<br /><br />The film spans 16 to 60 years of Aseema’s life and has Gracy play a single mother too. “I did not act in the film, I actually lived through the experiences of the character,” said Gracy.<br /><br />The actress has been missing from the commercial scene for sometime now and has concentrated on women-centric art house films, be it in Hindi or in regional languages.<br /><br />“I enjoy parallel films more and have a few of them lined up in Tamil, Telegu and Malayalam. I’m playing the sarpanch of a village in a film called ‘The White Land’ which is set in Gujarat,” said Gracy.<br /><br />“I am also doing some commercial films in Bollywood like ‘Chand Milta Hai Chand’ in which I play a radio jockey and ‘Midnight’, which is a thriller,” the actress said.<br /></p>
