Payal Rohatgi: From Bollywood to Hollywood

In recent weeks, Payal Rohatgi has been seen in two very different avatars- presenting at the Filmfare Awards in a Violet Monis sari, and in a sensational spread for the Indian edition of men’s mag Maxim. “I love wearing saris, and everyone around me tells me I look good in them. The one that I wore at the awards is one of my favourites,” Payal says. Of the raunchy photo-shoot, the star explains, “Maxim was work for me and the shooting went really well. Maxim itself is a very naughty magazine, so the shoot required me to wear such clothes.” The actor’s profile increased considerably, through an appearance in Colors Bigg Boss. “I’d call it the experience of a lifetime,” says Payal. She was concerned however, audiences were not seeing the real her, “People saw me crying and thought I was faking, but I’d really like to tell them I was genuinely crying- I was missing my family, and especially my mom.” Payal has starred opposite actors including Paresh Rawal, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arbaaz Khan and Ranvir Shorey. She has a long list of who she would like to share screen space with, “I would love to work with Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Abishek Bachchan and a lot more… even Imran Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor are damn good with their acting.” After hitting the big time with 36 China Town and Corporate, the star recently appeared with Irrfan Khan in Dil Kabaddi. Hoping to follow her co-star’s overseas success, Payal reasons, “Slumdog Millionaire has been a great achievement,” adding, “It has opened the doors of Hollywood for Indian cinema.” We can expect to see a lot more of this Bollywood beauty in the future. The sexy celeb reveals, “My fans will see me in a lot of different roles. I have a couple of big things lined up including a Hollywood project.”

Steven Baker can be contacted at stevenbaker@hotmail.com