Chitrangada Singh created a stir in just her first film, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in 2003, as a South Indian girl from abroad. But after a dud, Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow, in 2005, she vanished from the scene. The demands of stardom and the sudden lime light became too much for the newbie to handle. Not as the as per rumours that the pressures from a nagging husband forced her to take this decision. But after a few charcoal painting sessions, yoga and dabbling in interior design, Singh is sure she wants to return.

Her latest movie Sorry Bhai directed by Onir, starring Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani is releasing this month. And you can already sense the anxiety in her voice. “I’m slightly nervous; it has been some time since I acted,” says the actor showing off a tan from her sky-diving camp in Hissar.

Singh doesn’t call this a comeback but a “new beginning”. The break did her good as she can strategise, plan and organise her life they way she wants. She also realises that that she has hardly made a pinprick into Bollywood, being just two films old. “When I joined, I had no godfather. Now I have learnt to cope with the attention myself. But there is no pressure on me to perform,” she adds. The timing of her film could not have been any better as she was eager to make a comeback. “I had changed my number and was hesitant to call up directors and ask for work. Someone leaked my number to Onir and I immediately agreed to do his film,” she laughs.

... contd.