'Govinda is a strong guiding force'

Oct 28, 2008 IANS

New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) As a child, TV actress Ragini Khanna of "Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi" fame used to be scared of her maternal uncle, Bollywood star Govinda, but now she looks up to him as a guiding force in her life.

"As a child I used to be very scared of him (Govinda). Whenever he used to visit us, I used to hide in some corner. I still don't know why? Today, he is a guiding force for me," Ragini told IANS by phone from Mumbai.

The actress, who plays the role of Ragini alias Ginni, one of the three sisters in "Radhaa…", is the daughter of Govinda's sister Kamini Khanna.

Despite having such a strong Bollywood backing in the industry, Ragini says she never sought help from her uncle Govinda. Instead, she auditioned for at least 100 odd-shows before landing with one in "Radhaa…".

"I'll be foolish to say that his presence has not helped me, but I have never gone to him and asked him to get me a role. If that had been the case, I would have been doing several films. But I believe in making my own story.

"He does tell me what to do and helps me because he is aware of the ins and out of the industry. He is a very intellectual person and has a lot of experience. So he guides me really well," Ragini added.

Govinda apart, acting was not an obvious choice for Ragini, who is a trained classical singer and also a versatile dancer.

A commerce student in school, Ragini was studying for her MBA when she started auditioning for TV shows just because she "wanted to work". Before that, she wanted to cut her own music album.

"I have trained in singing for 15 years and for almost nine years I have learnt various dance forms including kathak, jive, salsa, belly dancing and others. I also know how to play the harmonium, tanpura and keyboard. If I get a nice offer, I would still love to do my album someday," she said.

As of now, she is happy with the success of her show especially because it has made it possible for her to be in a position to choose the kind of roles she wants to do in future.

"By god's grace, I get two offers almost everyday. When I was looking for work, I couldn't choose the projects I wanted to do. But now I can do that. I am open to do whatever interests me," said Ragini.

Ragini also has a film in her kitty, but it is "too early to talk about it". But like every other girl, Ragini too has her big Bollywood dreams.

"Everyone wants to do Bollywood as it means bigger money and bigger popularity. Everyone looks for greener pastures in life. But I am open to do a play, a film, a TV show or whatever as long as I get a good role. For me, it is better to do one good film rather than agreeing to 10 bad scripts."