Ever wondered where Penelope Cruz's interest in India stems from? For the most part, it is probably an offshoot of a weeklong interaction that she had many years ago with Mother Teresa in Kolkata.

That is the impression one gathers from her comments in a magazine interview published this month. Cruz told Hello!: "I always wanted to meet her... Then one day I received a phone call, and they invited me to go and work with her for one week. I felt so lucky.

"It's something you can't explain, the way you feel when you're in front of her... I had a few very good conversations and private moments with her that I feel were a turning point in my life."

Ever since, the iconic Cruz has contributed to charities that are in need of support. Some time early next year, the actress, who many believe is in the running for the Best Actress Oscar this year for her stunningly effective performance in Pedro Almodovar's Spanish film "Volver", would be in India to shoot "The Princess of Kapurthala", the story of a real-life flamenco dancer who married an Indian maharaja.

If Cruz does win the Oscar for "Volver", it will make her only the second actress in history to bag the statuette for a performance in a foreign language film. The first to earn the honour was Sophia Loren, with whom critics and movie lovers often equate Cruz. That was 44 years back for "Two Women".