A model gypsy

Nethra Raghuraman turns out to be an elusive interviewee. You leave several messages on her answering machine and cell-phone, but she doesn’t get back. Finally you drop the idea and decide to move on to the next assignment. Just then Nethra calls and apologises for not responding to your SOS and explains her inability to return the calls.

Apparently she was shooting for a music video which required her to do double shifts. An appointment is fixed for the next day at her home in suburban Mumbai. You reach the place on the dot and find the door locked. As you are ready to leave, you see her getting out of a vehicle. “Sorry, sorry...” she apologises again. A truce is struck and it’s time to talk about her career in modelling, acting and her debut on television.

Tall, slim, dusky with a confident persona, she has done a few things in life for the heck of it. One of them was her decision to take part in Femina Look Of The Year Contest in 1997 which she won and which changed the course of her life. “I have never considered myself very beautiful but still I applied for the heck of it,” she recalls. “My confidence was my asset and I knew I could carry myself through the contest. I was also aware of my plus and minus points and how to hide the minuses.” Obviously besides her looks, her confidence did the rest.

Based in Baroda, she quit her post-graduate studies and moved to Mumbai and soon enough she landed her first modelling assignment for the Taj Group of Hotels. Along with modelling she started doing ramp shows. Though a part of the glamour world and its intrigues, she was far away from the world of histrionics. In fact, she was too busy doing ad campaigns and ramp shows which gave her a high and she had no time to give acting even a thought.

But it all started with a call from Govind Nihalani for Takshak two years ago. And Nethra says there was no question of not doing the film because it was a Govind Nihalani film. “I just love off-beat cinema and I love what Govind has done,” she confesses expressing great admiration for the works of off-beat and middle-of-the-road filmmakers like Shyam Benegal and Gulzar. For that matter, had Mahesh Mathai approached her first for Bhopal Express, Nethra says she would have accepted the offer without even a second thought.

She likes to clarify that her role in Takshak was not just a one song appearance. “I had three songs and a few scenes,” she explain. “I played a modern woman who is a dancer-cum-singer. It was a very important role in the film’s canvas. It was through her role that the character played by Rahul Bose (the villain in the movie) was explained.”

She says it was a great experience working with Nihalani. And it was the same with Mahesh Mathai in Bhopal Express which was based on the December 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy. “I put in lot of efforts in my role and it paid off by way of the Screen-Videocon award for the best female debut. The award gave me a great feeling because it was the best reward for my efforts,” she gushes.

Though she doesn’t look down upon television, Nethra was just not interested in television acting though she has been getting offers for a long time. But now she has debuted on the small screen as well in a love story, Yehi To Pyar Hai, which is set against the backdrop of palaces, forts, lakes and deserts of Rajasthan and which has her playing a gypsy folk dancer in love with a musician-cum-singer from a royal family. “It’s an old commitment,” she clarifies. “Actually I went for the screen-test for the heck of it. And had forgotten about it till it got a slot on Zee.”

Talking about her role in Yehi To Pyar Hai, she says she doesn’t know how the character is going to develop because in a serial the character is constantly being written. “But it’s a lead role,” she adds with a tinge of satisfaction in her somewhat husky voice. What she knows about the serial is that it’s a typical love story with all the normal complications, drama and conflict. “And it’s being treated well,” she adds further.

She loves both modelling and acting and both give her a high because she is very passionate about both. “I am very serious about my career and it is very important to be passionate about what I am doing,” she reasons. But besides modelling and acting, she is also very passionate about television anchoring. Having compared live shows, she feels she can be a very successful anchor-woman and is very keen on doing a good TV show.

Another thing that intrigues her very much is production. Having handled production briefly for a theatre group in Baroda, she is keen on doing production again. “I have no problem sweating it out and even working on the road,” she reveals. “And I also have no problem dealing with the spot boys. In fact, whenever I shoot the people I click with are the production guys.”

While she doesn’t believe in caste and creed, she doesn’t forget to tell you that she is a South Indian Brahmin. While her friends often tell her that she is still a kid, Nethra feels she is a mature person. But at the same time, she is absolutely happy-go-lucky and believes in living life by her own rules. Which is why she says she will never ever compromise even for the biggest thing in life because “I can’t break my rules.”

A.L. Chougule