Bihar to Bollywood, this Friday

Neha Sharma made the journey from Bihar to Bollywood to try her luck at stardom. Her first Hindi film will be this week's release Crook: It's Good To Be Bad, starring Emraan Hashmi. The Mahesh Bhatt film has been directed by Mohit Suri.

Films were not her first choice though. Before moving to Mumbai, Neha did a fashion designing course in NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology), Delhi.

A few amateur modelling stints in college got her pictures circulated, and surprisingly, they went down South.

I don't know how my pictures went down south," Neha says. "But I got a call. I went, auditioned and got selected because of my comfort level in front of the camera."

She made her debut with Telugu film Chirutha, opposite Chiranjeevi's son Ram Charan Teja Neha.

"I did not know how big the industry down South was but still I thought of trying my luck there. Till the premiere, I did not know how big the industry was," she says.

Neha went through her share of language trouble, as she tried to learn Telugu. The first few days of the shoot were quite intimidating for her, as she felt like an outsider, thanks to the language barrier.

"But the people were warm and kind," she says. They wanted to make me comfortable so they would speak mostly in English. My scenes were explained in English and they wrote my dialogues in Roman English."

Even after her second film Kurradu, Neha still could not get over the language barrier. "It is important that you do films in your own language because that's when you are comfortable -- you can express well in your own language."

So Neha decided to try her hand at Hindi films.

As luck would have it, Mukesh Bhatt and Mohit Suri were looking for a new face in their film Crook, and came across Neha's pictures.

"I met them, and did not have to audition for the role," Neha said. "They said I was the right choice to play Suhani."

Crook is based on racism. Jai Dixit, played by Emraan, believes in taking shortcuts in life so that he can achieve success faster. He goes to Melbourne and meets Suhani. Due to circumstances, they get caught in the web of racism.

"Suhani is born and brought up in Australia, yet her sensibilities are rooted. She goes through a difficult time in her life and that makes her a strong woman," she says.

One of the good points of working in an Emraan Hashmi starrer was that there would be 'at least one chartbuster song.'

What about the other must-be in a Hashmi film: kissing. "Yes, I know he's called a serial kisser," she laughs. "But I don't have any kiss or intimate scenes with him. He does that with the other heroine Shella Allen."

So will she be nervous this Friday when the reviews and audience reactions start coming in? "Certainly!" she exclaims. "I will be nervous until Mukeshji gives me the verdict."