Sri Lankan import Jacqueline Fernandes makes her B-Town debut with Sujoy Ghosh's Aladin. She has also completed Milap Zaveri's Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai.
Sri Lankan import Jacqueline Fernandes makes her B-Town debut with Sujoy Ghosh's Aladin. She has also completed Milap Zaveri's Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai.
Both films have Riteish Deshmukh as her co-star. "Riteish was one of the few people I know since my early days in Mumbai. He is a gem of a person; one of the nicest guys I know. Two movies down with him and I know I can do anything for him. And he can do anything for me."
The actress has been waiting for Aladin to release for long. "Every time I hear that the release date is changed, it is like, "Oh no, please don't do this." But now the film is releasing in October- end, she feels everything takes its own time and place."
The newbie had no clue about Bollywood and was not a keen watcher of Hindi films even though for her dad, it is a familiar territory. "When I told him who were my co-stars were for Aladin, he was more excited than me!"
Jackie is not allowing her lack of knowledge of Hindi be a deterrent. "I have been taking Hindi classes and have improved a lot. When I auditioned for Aladin, I was terrible. Later, at Sujoy's behest I enrolled at Barry John's acting studio.
I also had acting coach Vinod Tharani on the sets helping me with the dialogues and scenes."
As Milap was a constant visitor on the sets of Aladin, she bagged Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai and having Ritesh as her co-star helped. "Now I am only waiting for my films to release."
Jackie who?
Jacqueline Fernandes is a Miss Sri Lanka who did her schooling in Bahrain where her father Elroy and mom Kim, who is a Malaysian, are based. She studied media communications in Sydney and returned to Colombo where her aunt Fredericka Jamsc, a political journalist, introduced her to the TV world. Jacqueline anchored a telly show for a while till she reached Mumbai on a modelling contract which ultimately led her to a role in Aladin.
ADVERTISEMENT