By the time I'm 20, I'll look very sexy: Hansikaa Motwani

From Himesh Reshammiya to Govinda, 16-year-old Hansikaa on her heroes.. interviewed by Roshmila Bhattacharya

It's been six months since Aap ka Suroor but you've signed just one movie. How come?
I'd be doing 10 films simultaneously if the offers had been exciting. After Aap ka Suroor I wasn't interested in any more ronadhona roles. So I waited till Kumar Mangat's Honey Hai To Money Hai happened. It's a riot!

Do you have a father fixation in your choice of heroes?
I'm one of Govindaji's biggest fans.. our film Honey Hai.. is not a regular prem kahani. I'm playing a TV artiste who aspires to become a film star. Govindaji is a Mr Fix-it who helps me realise my dream. He sorts out the problems of others too.. Upen Patel and Aftab Shivdasani.

Upen and Aftab aren't exactly teenagers either.
My age would be an issue only if I was an inexperienced bachi messing up my shots. But I've been working since the last six years. Even with Govindaji, I sailed through our first shot in one take. (Beaming) Govindaji was impressed.

<b1>You'll still look like a mismatched jodi.
No we won't. The film's a comedy and everyone's going to be laughing so hard that they won't give our age a passing thought. Even Jeetuji (Jeetendra) romanced Neetuji (Singh) after working with her as a child star! Besides I'm a better than average actress.

Aren't you interested in pairing up with someone closer to your age. Shahid Kapur may be?
I've been getting plenty of offers with the younger actors too but I'm more interested in my role than my co-star. I'm 16 going on 17. I can carry on for another 10-15 years. Time is on my side. By the time I'm 20 I'll look very sexy. Already, I've lost about nine kilos.

In retrospect do you think Aap ka Suroor was a good launch, given that the focus was almost entirely on Himesh?
Aap ka Suroor was Himeshji's launch. So it's understandable that he would look out for himself. I got enough footage and earned myself a superhit. By the way when we were shooting in Germany I wasn't mobbed, but then neither was Himeshji. Shah Rukh Khan is the only superstar there.

And after the release of

Aap ka Suroor

, a Pakistani soldier patrolling the other side of the Indo-Pak border admitted shyly that he was my fan.

<b2>

Have you moved to South films because of none-too-exciting offers in Bombay?

I haven't moved down South. I've had only one Telugu release

Desh

Mudru

that just completed a 200-day run. I played a 16-year-old

sanyasin

in it. I've just wrapped up a Kannada film

Bindaas

with Puneet Raaj Kumar and have started work on another Telugu film,

Kantri

, with NTR junior.

I've been pretty lucky with my South films but I won't take on more than one at a time because I want to keep enough dates reserved for the Bombay movies.

Has your father reconciled himself to your acting career?
(With a frown) He left us when I was 10 years old. That's when my mother made me start acting as a child artiste. Imagine, I got to do Koi Mil Gaya. Now dad is in touch..

Your mother has been handling all your business transactions. Aren't you putting yourself in an Ameesha Patel-like situation?
Everything I earn goes into a trust that will come to me when I am 18. There's no reason to mistrust someone who's spending Rs 3000 a month on my education and refuses to touch even a rupee of my money.