It is her freshness that first strikes you. Though a few might place her as the heroine of Vikram Bhatt’s horror flick ‘1920’ (a 2009-release), it would be easy to relate the beautiful Adah Sharma as the better half of the handsome Madhavan in the Joy Alukkas TV commercial. Her charm, enticing smile and highly expressive face have already won many hearts. Or, you would even remember the Nokia ad and her cute chemistry with Sharman Joshi (Sharman flirts with another woman as Adah goes inside to try out different dresses at a shop, gets angry when she sees that, only to be appeased by Sharman). Or, you might have even seen her with Katrina Kaif in the Olay commercial.
When we started off our telephonic tete-a-tete with Adah, we hardly expected that she would have a Malayali connection. Adah’s mother is from Muvattupuzha and she does come once in a year to meet her granny’s sisters there. A pure vegetarian, this Mumbai-born-and-brought-up girl simply loves ‘thairu saadam’ (“I have it everyday at home as well!”) and relishes ‘avial’.
Her Malayali connection has got nothing to do with her being cast in the Joy Alukkas commercials for which she has been retained this year as well. “The casting person for Joy Alukkas and the director had watched ‘1920’ and wanted me in the ad. The ads I did for the brand have been well-received. And shooting with Madhavan was fun. He is extremely spontaneous and can come up with a variety of expressions,’’ she says.
It was Olay Natural White that launched her. Before that, Adah, the daughter of Narasimhan, a captain in the Merchant Navy, and Sheela, a yoga instructor, grew up in an atmosphere which had nothing to do with the world of glamour and films. Post her schooling and college in Mumbai, Adah took to learning Kathak from Gopi krishna’s Dance Academy. And movies happened during the course of her dance training.
The only connection she has had with movies is that she was absolutely crazy about them. When asked why she chose to become an actor, she shared with utmost sincerity, “I loved watching movies since I was in school. They have always fascinated me to such an extent that I used to make the scenes and dialogues by heart. Also, when you are young, you want to do every profession you could think of. I wanted to be a farmer, architect, cop and what not. So, I thought through movies I could do all that! Well, actually, I am living my dream now,” she shared with a giggle.
Smitten by the acting bug, she did turn up at many movie auditions and ‘1920’ finally worked for her. The movie, written and directed by Vikram Bhatt, had debutants Rajaneesh Duggal and Adah. An Indian boy and an English speaking girl get married amidst stiff opposition from the family and they end up living in a haunted house. The supernatural events that follow formed the narrative. “The film was well-received and was even dubbed in many languages,” she said.
The unreleased flick ‘Phhir’ followed. “Before the release of ‘1920’, just after we completed filming it, Vikram sir asked me to play a part in ‘Phhir’. It was like a special appearance, I played a clairvoyant. After using every muscle of my face in ‘1920’, in ‘Phhir I played a girl who did not express much with her face. It was a little difficult as I didn’t identify with the character, but was lot of fun.”
Why didn’t we see more of her in Bollywood, though her performance in ‘1920’ was hailed and appreciated? “I want to do something really good. I want the best roles, that is why I don’t mind waiting for that,” she stressed.
She would soon start her second full-length Bollywood film, a romantic comedy, and you would also see her in a couple of more commercials, including that of a leading soft drink brand and the new series of Joy Alukkas commercials.
A trained gymnast and proficient in many forms of dance, Adah is confident that she would be around for quite a good period in the industry. “I plan to be here for a long time. I have got offers and I want to do a South Indian movie (she doesn’t know Malayalam, but can speak Tamil). Actually, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I am greedy when it comes to acting. I need to get really good roles, be it any language.”
m_athira@expressbuzz.com