New Delhi, July 13: Her waist-length tresses fall beautifully, accentuating her chiselled features and unconventional looks. Twenty-three and raring to go, Mumbai-based model-turned-actress Maushmi Udeshi awaits that tailormade role, after several print campaigns and music videos. Born to a Sindhi mother and a Gujarati father, she got her break with the Nescafe ad and then appeared in Bally Sagoo’s remix video of Noorie. “I was still studying commerce at MMK College when I entered a ‘face of the year contest’ and life changed. I dropped out of college and dad was furious over me getting into modelling and those half naked pictures in the glossies,” says Maushmi.

After an art film, The Tight Rope Walker, that made it among the 10 best films in the Venice festival two years back, she only wants to play the lead role and has refused several item number and second lead offers by big banners. “I don’t want to be overshadowed by anyone. I’m comfortable doing remix music videos like Nitin Bali’s Neele neele ambar,” says Maushmi, who’s gearing up for a Telugu film, O Priyatama. “In O Priyatama, I play a bubbly teenager. It’s a beautiful, fresh love story,” she says.
A trained Bharatnatyam dancer from the Nalanda Dance School, Maushmi claims she can do even the basic jhatkas with a difference. “Acting comes naturally to me and I enjoy it. I have no nakhras about the film being a comedy, romance, an emotional drama or a thriller. As a performer you must be open to everything,” she concludes.