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, 19-year-old Sanjana Singh’s too harboured a dream of being a top-notch actress a la Sridevi.
The starry-eyed teenager, who had dropped out of school after Class 12 due to financial constraints, ran away from her home in Uttar Pradesh in December. And two months after reaching Mumbai managed to meet a Bhojpuri director and bag a role.
“I left home with only Rs 100. I got off at Dadar station and I stayed on the platform for two days thinking that I would make it on my own,” said Singh. “But it turned out to be very difficult. So I called up my father and asked for my cousin Bipin Rai’s number who lives in Mumbai.”
Rai rushed to Dadar and took his cousin to his Nalasopara residence.
“I told Rai that I wanted to meet Bhojpuri director Aman Koiri, who lives in Thane,” Singh said. “Initially, Rai tried to dissuade me but finally relented.”
The duo met Thane Koiri (29) on February 21 and requested him to help Singh bag a role. Koiri was, however, sceptical about helping the girl as she had run away from her home.
“I told them that I would not be able to help her since she had come without her parents’ permission,” Koiri said. “But then she called her father in Allahabad and asked me to speak with him. He told me that he was ‘okay’ with his daughter working in films. Moreover, now it would be embarrassing if she returned home without working in a film.”
{{/usCountry}}“I told them that I would not be able to help her since she had come without her parents’ permission,” Koiri said. “But then she called her father in Allahabad and asked me to speak with him. He told me that he was ‘okay’ with his daughter working in films. Moreover, now it would be embarrassing if she returned home without working in a film.”
{{/usCountry}}Koiri then decided to cast Singh in his second directorial venture Manwa Ke Chand.
“I always wanted to be an actress and make my parents proud. I am the eldest among four sisters and a brother,” said Singh. “My parents, who are farmers, always wanted their eldest child to be a son.”
Singh is now looking forward to meet her family in March when she would be shooting in Lucknow and Sultanpur.