Cool Bollywood

Gone are the days when she was happily tagged as the ‘girl next door.’ The girl, whose stark simplicity wowed the telebuffs in films like Ishk Vishk and Vivaah, and completely enamored an artist like MF Husain, is now being touted as one of the hottest babes of B-Town. Amrita Rao gets chatty on romance, marriage, fashion faux pas and more!

Up, close with IPL The girl is candid enough to admit that her “first brush with a live cricket match happened two years ago in Mumbai,” and she is quite excited about “watching an IPL match on screen with the audiences.” But, in this season of ‘cricket-o-mania’, when almost all the actresses are riding the IPL bandwagon, why isn’t she involved more actively with it?

“Actresses like Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty aren’t in the rat race now because they have already earned their space under the sun. Deepika Padukone is involved as a brand ambassador, so that’s her call. But, I’m in the thick of it and can’t afford to spend that kind of time with IPL,” says she. ‘I’m meeting Husain saab!’

The chirpy girl becomes silent the moment you ask her if she has spoken to her ardent admirer MF Husain. After a long silence filled with sadness, she says, “Yes I did speak to him before he became the citizen of Qatar, and I’m disheartened by the fact that he will never come back to India again.”

But, she perks up and says, “I’m planning to go to Dubai at the end of this month and I will certainly meet Husain saab.” And what’s the gift that she’s planning to take for him? With a laugh she says, “He already has the best of cars and the most enviable work schedule, so I will just take sweets from India for him.”

Priyanka’s fashion faux pas And what does she have to say about Priyanka Chopra making the biggest fashion gaffe sometime back by repeating the short gold dress, which Amrita had earlier worn at one of the reality shows on television? The lady brushes off the incident, saying, “It was such a petty and miniscule thing and it can happen to anyone. But, I was embarrassed when some of the reports quoted my so-called statement about that incident when I had not even said a word.”

‘Swayamvar? No way!’ The actress, who had floored the telly buffs with her charming appearance and comments on a reality show on marraige, says, “I will never go for a swayamvar even for a million bucks! I never want to be put in a situation where I get to choose my groom from 10 guys selected by someone else. I would rather have the liberty to choose my own partner.”

‘Not giving any bhav!’ A reality show wedding may not exist in her dictionary, but she admits that there are admirers aplenty. “Yes, there are lots of guys filmi and non-filmi trying to woo me. But, I’m not giving them any bhav,” she confesses rather shyly. And when will she start thinking in this direction? “You never know when love catches you in that off-guard moment,” says she and signs off.