Some time back she was the Channa ve girl. But as she conveniently sheds the tag and endorses the new brand Frozen, the parameters change. From a typical popular music album to an award winning off-beat film, the transition has not been smooth for Gauri, whose debut in Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s Frozen had the damsel rooted on the slippery snow for three long hours. Shooting at a chilling minus 25 degrees Celsius was the toughest task for Gauri, who still was on the threshold of entering her acting career.

“I never thought this would be the place where I will finally land,” says the psychology student, who just chanced upon Kunal Ganjawala’s song channa ve. The music video, also directed by Shivajee Chandrabhushan, featured Gauri. “Before channa ve I did not have any connection to this medium. The song was my introduction to this industry and Chandrabhushan thought I might fit in the role of Lasya in his film,” she says.

With Frozen garnering accolades world wide, Gauri too is close on heels with nominations in best actor category in two different international film festivals. The film that has entered 30 film festivals and already has 18 awards in its kitty. Gauri too is hopeful of her nominations in Greece and Russian film festival. “ I am glad that for my debut role I have been nominated for best actor in Russian and Greece film festival. For a person, who was a complete non actor once, I think it quite an achievement,” she says.

Shooting in extreme weather conditions was a challenge for this actor, who was left with chattering teeth and shivering hands at the end of every shot. “I have been brought up in a moderate climate. For me the chill was very unfamiliar so I faced a little trouble there. For other actors it was little more familiar,” says she. The film has 12-year-old Ladakhi actor Skalzang Aungchuk playing the role of her brother Chomo. “ The film is a beautiful portrayal of brother-sister relationship. It tells you how you can find peace of mind even amidst crowd and how, even if you got to Himalaya looking for inner peace, you will not get it unless you look within yourself,” she elaborates.

The actor who ended up burning DVDs of world cinema to learn the nuances of acting also attended three-week long workshop before she finally started with the shoot. The 104-minute long film had the actor churning out the best of her acting skills. “ The film has very less dialogues so I guess I had no other option left than to bring out the best,” she smiles.

Apart from touring with the film, Gauri also is busy shooting for Chadrabhushan’s second venture, which is an Indo-Spanish film that revolves around three generation of women. Post Frozen, the actor, who is flooded with offers is planning to take a plung in the mainstream. “ I have done off beats now I want to taste the other part of our film industry. People have approached me and if a good script comes, I will love to do typical Bollywood stuff,” she signs off.