Glam girl Simran happy playing mom on screen

Chennai, May 26 (IANS) After giving three back-to-back flops there are no takers for Tamil cinema's former glamour girl Simran. She is only getting offers to play mother, but she isn't complaining.

"I don't mind playing mom roles if they have something special. Gautham Menon offered me a good role as Surya's mother in 'Vaaranam Aayiram' and I am also doing Hari-directed 'Seval' with Bharat in the lead. Both the roles appealed to me," Simran, who took a short break from acting after tying the knot with Deepak Bagga in 2003, told IANS.

Success eluded Simran when she tried to make a comeback after her son's birth in 2005. She featured in Tamil film "Kicha, Vayasu 16", Malayalam movie "Heart Beats" and two Telugu films - "Okka Magadu" and "John Apparao 40+" opposite Jai Akash, Indrajith and Balakrishna and newcomer Krishna Bhagwan respectively, but none of them fared well.

When she experimented with TV as the anchor of a Tamil reality show, it backfired because she had crossed the wrong side of the saleable threshold. Young actress Namitha replaces her.

A section of southern filmdom opines that Simran lost the golden opportunity to reign when she refused a role opposite Rajnikanth in "Chandramukhi" three years ago and allowed producers of "Heart Beat" to get away with it when they downsized her role.

But the actress has no regrets.

She said: "I dropped out of 'Chandramukhi' due to my pregnancy. 'Heart Beats' was like a cardiac arrest and I would like to forget it. Some people say I made a mistake, but I have no regrets. My son Adheep is a better compensation."

The actress takes her son along for the shooting and says after working for more than a decade, she can't resist the arclights.

"I have been working since 1996 so now I cannot stay away from the camera. My son is present during shootings. My mother-in-law too chips in to help me with Adheep."

Simran owes her career to Bollywood actress and politician Jaya Bachchan, who spotted her in the "Superhit Muqabla" on Doordarshan and offered her the leading role in her home production "Tere Mere Sapne".

The film did well, but Simran didn't benefit much from the movie.

After futile attempts to make it big in Bollywood, Simran entered southern filmdom with Malayalam movie "Indraprastham". Despite the presence of leading stars Mammooty and Vikram, it didn't score well at the box office.

She tasted success with her Tamil debut "VIP" opposite Prabhu Deva and Abbas. The film brought her much-desired success and after that there was no looking back for the actress who went on to win four state awards and five Filmfare awards.

Despite stupendous success in the Tamil industry, she temporarily bowed out following the suicide of her sister, actress Monal. Her brief dalliance with the AIADMK prior to the 2006 Tamil Nadu assembly elections didn't help either.

Now she is comfortable with playing mom to actors who are much older to her.

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Varanam Aayiram

Simran Pictures