Isha overshadows Sameera

NEW DELHI (India): Sameera Reddy's powerful performance in Musafir could well have put her in the reckoning as an actress to keep a look out for.

But the industry has failed to take much note as all attention is focused on Subhash Ghai's new find Isha Sharvani.

A trained gymnast, Isha is being touted as the next Aishwarya Rai in the department of looks and the next Madhuri Dixit when it comes to dancing.

Those who have seen her work say that Hindi film audiences are yet to see a dancer like her.

Ghai is keeping Isha away from media glare and we will have to wait for the release of the Vivek Oberoi-starrer Kisna to know her better.

The success of the period film may well steer Hindi cinema away from the emerging trend of developing scripts based on market surveys and researches.

Isha Sharvani

There is something about Isha Sharvani, 19, that goes beyond her flawless skin, dark eyes and poise. An indefinable element that catches your eye; I had no trouble spotting her in the midst of a crowd of jeans-and-tees teenagers. A girl with a ready laugh, Isha is Subhash Ghai's latest find and is to star opposite Vivek Oberoi in his forthcoming film Kisna, a period love story set in the 1930s.

The film landed in my lap as an unexpected birthday gift, says Isha Sharvani, who is extensively trained in Kalaripayattu and Kathak and specialises in contemporary rope dance.

Unlike Meenakshi Seshadri, Manisha Koirala and Mahima Choudhary-all Ghai finds-Isha will retain her name as "it is not my name but my performance that will count".

She opened up over a bottle of mineral water at McDonald's in Crossroads, Mumbai. "The film landed in my lap as an unexpected birthday gift," says Isha, sounding pretty composed for a debutante. The only giveaway: the glimmer of excitement in her eyes. "I signed the movie last September 27, two days before my birthday." Ghai had taken three days off and gone down to her home in Thiruvananthapuram to personally make the offer.

It is hard to ignore her non-filmi background. "I live in a small place near the Vellani lake," she says. Her mother, renowned dancer and choreographer Daksha Sheth, has a dance ashram there. "At 13, my life was dance, studies, travelling and my family." Not much has changed, except the addition of the arc lights.

She is extensively trained in Kalaripayattu and Kathak and specialises in contemporary rope dance. India's only 'aerial' dancer, she recently stopped London traffic with her spectacular performance over the River Thames at a height of 45 feet! Her discipline is commendable. Whether there is a performance or not, she rehearses seven hours a day.

The film role came to her by accident. Ghai had contacted Daksha to choreograph a dance sequence for the film. She sent him some pictures in which Isha was there. "He asked for my close-ups, but I didn't have any," says Isha. "I went to meet him personally, but it was more with my mom's choreography in mind."

Life is hectic for her now. When she is not shooting at Ranikhet in Himachal Pradesh, she is attending the Namit Kishor acting classes, pursuing yoga and rushing home for 15 to 20 days to work on her dance. "Back home my every 15 minutes is planned. Here I just go with the flow," says Isha, who is staying with her yoga teacher in south Mumbai. On her own for the first time, she admits missing her quiet life back home. Especially her 13-year-old brother, Tao, who is aspiring to be a rock singer and tennis player. "We are a team: my mother, brother and father," she says.

There is a good side to the stay away from home, though. "It is easier for me in Mumbai as I don't have any baggage. I have nothing to prove to anyone here," she says. "It is not like I am Subhash Ghai's daughter."

Surprisingly dancing-Bollywood ishtyle-required some training. "I was choreographed by Saroj Khan. I was not used to the style, but it was great fun trying something different," she says.

Her parents are ecstatic. "This will help her grow as an artist. When you dance, you do it for a select 300 to 400 audience," says Daksha Sheth. "But when you act in a film, millions get to watch." Daksha is choreographing some rope work for Isha, besides playing the older version of her daughter's character, Lakshmi, in the film.

Her father Davissaro, an Australian who came to India as a monk and is now an established composer and musician, looks at it a little differently: "Dance is an unforgiving career, especially contemporary dance with its high element of risk," he says. "Acting has a longer life."●