/> She's currently all over the place. Two releases in two weeks. First there was Naseeruddin Shah's Yun Hota To Kya Hota followed by Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara. Then the thriller with Irrfan Deadline is also due.

"Did Naseer really like my performance?" she wonders. "Throughout the film he kept teasing me, 'Why did I take this ugly untalented girl?' I loooove him. I wish I could act with him. I've asked him to let me be in a play with him.

I've been dying to do theatre for a while. In fact I've asked my Mixed Doubles director-co-star Rajat Kapoor also to let me do a play with him. But non one listens to me."

She's excited to be working with Ritu for the third time. "I'm always doing Hindi and Bengali films. But in Sunglass I get to do both together. I'll get to work with such a wide variety of acting talent."

She talks about her role in Naser's film with enthusiasm. "There were four stories in Yun Hota To Kya Hota. And in each, one character wants to go away to the US. I'm a Bengali girl in an arranged marriage. She's unable to get along with her in-laws. There're characters in the film who try to escape from their past."

About Omkara, "I'm really looking forward to that. I've never done anything like Omkara. That's why when I heard the script I dropped everything else to accommodate it."

She lights up at the mention of her Omkara co-star Saif. "Saif didn't know the kind of actor I was. But once we got to know each other we got along really well. He's so cute and talented. I hope he does lots more work like Omkara. All my-costars were from the Bollywood masala background.

I was the odd one out. I was intimidated by the bigness of it, quite awestruck by the stars. And the Western UP dialect....that really got me.

The others were at least proficient in Hindi. But me? I must say watching Ajay, Kareena, Saif, Viveik and Bipasha was a humbling experience. They were always on time and they always said their lines correctly. I've a lovely role in Omkara."

Konkona says she wasn't intimidated by Vishal Bhardawaj doing Shakespeare. "Adaptations aren't uncommon. And besides I had seen Vishal's Maqbool and loved it. I don't have that many scenes. And they aren't tough to do until the twist at the end that deviates from the original Shakespeare.

I had done Othello in college. When Vishal asked me to do Amelia, I couldn't remember that character. But when I heard the script I realized mine wasn't a role that would be easily forgotten."

Konkona is agog about Omkara. "It's my first big Bollywood film. Not that my films haven't made money. They're made within a tight budget and are therefore workable."

She keeps flitting from genre to genre. "I'm very happy that I'm getting the kind of roles that I do. But I'm not to happy with the scripts that I'm getting. I've been asked to do films in the South. But unless it's super-tempting I don't want to go beyond Hindi and Bengali films. But yes, the roles can get better.

I love the smaller films that have done well like My Brother Nikhil and Iqbal. They have battled the big ones. Though not all the realistic films are great.

But at least there're people who are courageous enough to take the leap. Some of the mainstream films are quite awful. But some of them are superb. I loved 'Main Hoona Na' and 'Bunty Aur Babli'."

She has a guest appearance in Madhur Bhandarkar's Traffic Signal. "I play this foul-mouthed character. If I knew I'd have to use so much abusive language I'd have never done it. When Madhur approached me he said it was just the role of a confident street worker, smoking cigarettes. I wasn't sure.

But he insisted. My mom will get a heart attack when she hears me in Traffic Signal, poor woman. It was very embrassing to use some of these words in front of the whole unit.

I didn't even know what some of them meant. For bhadwe (pimp) I kept saying bhanwre. It was very embarrassing. But Madhur had so faith in me."

No new films for Konkona except Anurag Basu's Metro. "I believe Anurag's Gangster is a good film. I've to see it. That's why I want to do Metro. I've agreed to do it. But let me hear the whole script I've to come across a script that excites me...Not that I'm a very good judge of a script.

Onir's brother-in-law Ashwini Mallick has narrated a good script me. I was supposed to be in Onir's Bas Ek Pal.

But before I could make up my mind they went to another actress. I don't feel about such things.My mom is an actress. I know roles changing hands is quite common. "

Looking forward to the National award this year for her performance in her mom's 19 Park Avenue? "No! Are you mad? The fact that the film is so close to my heart and so many people close to me have appreciated it, is reward enough for me. I'm quite happy with my one National award for Mr & Mrs Iyer."