Sameera Reddy doesn't fancy songs any more

Mar 7, 2008 Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) Sameera Reddy, who is often seen in sizzling numbers on screen, has no songs in her forthcoming thriller "Race" and says she doesn't miss them.

"When you see the film, you'll realise there was no space for singing in my character. I don't think it's important to have songs to make your presence felt. Amitabh Bachchan didn't sing in 'Zanjeer'. Neither did Rani Mukerji in 'Black'," Sameera told IANS.

Sameera has tapped her comic vein in "Race".

"Anil Kapoor and I had done something very serious in our earlier film 'Musafir'. Here we just let ourselves go. I had never done comedy before."

But the film that finds Sameera immersed in a complete comic climate is Ashwini Dheer's "123" in which the actress is paired with Paresh Rawal.

"So what if I've no song in 'Race'? I've an entire romantic duet with Paresh ji in '123'. Our whole encounter is based on a comic misunderstanding. I learnt all there was to learn about comic timing from him.

"I'd have done the film just for the pleasure of learning so much about comedy from Paresh ji. But I also wanted to work with Ashwini Dheer. I'm a big fan of his sitcom 'Office Office'. Such straight-faced humour! That's what he has brought into our film."

She debuted with "Maine Dil Tujhko Diya" in 2002 and after that she was seen mainly in glamorous roles, but now the actress is doing meatier roles. After her funny act in "123", she gets into the grim mode to play a Naxalite in Ananth Mahadevan's "Red Alert".

"I play a girl called Laxmi who's ferociously committed to her cause. No funny stuff here. No glamour. I guess I was chosen because I'm from Andhra and also because I've done serious cinema with Buddhadeb Dasgupta. After 'Kaal Purush', I was compared with Smita Patil. And I think she has played a Naxalite."