After being a supermodel and then winning the title of Miss Sri Lanka, was Bollywood a planned move?
I started my career as a political journalist for a news magazine in Sri Lanka. I was finding my feet there when I won the title of Miss Sri Lanka. My life completely changed and soon I was on a modeling contract in India. At that point auditions for Aladin were going on. I got selected.

A debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Were you overwhelmed?
When my father got to know that I was working in a film alongside the legendary Bachchan, he couldn’t stop expressing his joy. On the first day of my shoot, I saw the man and I couldn’t say more than a ‘Namaste’ and retreated into my vanity van.

For people who have grown up on Aladdin, there are different perceptions of Jasmine. Was it tough playing the character?
Most people perceive Jasmine as the one from Walt Disney’s Aladdin. But in Sujoy Ghosh’s movie she is just a simple bubbly college girl. I had to just play myself. But there were times when people asked me if I was playing the genie. I’m still wondering how I could be the fat, blue thing.

Indian models who’ve started acting have taken years to find acceptance in films; do you think it will be tough for you?
Honestly, I have been lucky enough to have got such a huge launch. The rest is up to me on how I survive here. You can have a godfather, plenty of contacts, a film lineage and also money, but it is your talent that will make you stand out.

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