More than mainstream Hindi cinema, regional flicks excite actress Nandita Das, the latest being the Marathi film 'Maati Maay.' But, that certainly does not mean that the versatile actress has taken a bow from the tinsel town.

"I love to learn new languages, and some say that I have a flair for languages. Hence, doing regional flicks excites me," said Nandita, recently here for the promotion of her movie.

"Moreover, I think that regional movies have a great potential. The scripts down south or east or west have emotional touch. And as an actor I can empathise with them," she said.

Though at present she is concentrating more on regional movies, Nandita said she was equally interested in Hindi movies. "After all, I love Bollywood and it has given me many good scripts to prove myself," she added. "As of now there is 'Maati Maay' to watch and it is available with sub-titles as well."

'Provoked' is yet another movie, which is due to be released soon. She plays the role of a fiery social activist in the movie, which stars Aishwarya Rai as well. Hopefully her fans will get to see her more often next year as five of her Hindi films are in the pipeline for release in 2007.

Her power-packed performances have wooed the audience all over the nation. Be it Bengali films or Gujarati or Marathi or Tamil flicks, Nandita adds a dash of panache to the reel-life characters that she plays.

Talking about the recent success of 'Maati Maay,' she says, "Though the movie is culture specific and region specific, I guess human emotions are universal. Hence all out there at the Toronto International Film Festival could relate to the drama which showed the plight of a woman."

"Though many might complain that now-a-days I'm not working, the fact is that I'm doing my kind of work. I choose scripts that I can relate to and which deal with some social aspects. Infact I like doing movies which comment on the society and make a person think," Nandita said.

When quizzed on how she balances her roles and manages to learn dozens of languages, she says,"At times scenes are so intense that my attention is diverted. But, the first step is to learn the language, understand the need of the character, later on I concentrate only on the scenes as dialogues keep coming naturally if the first two things are done."

Other than movies, the actress keeps herself busy by doing social work, attending seminars and contributing to the society in her "small little ways".