/> It's the mean lean and neurotic season for mademoiselles of Bollywood. After Sushmita Sen in Chingari , Kangana in Gangster and Esha Deol in Ankahee it's Amrita Arora who went scandalously and fashionably grey-to-back in Vikram Bhatt's Red.

Says Amrita, "It was the kind of film that I had never done. And it required me to dig into emotions that I had never attempted before. That really kept me on my toes. So far all my films have been hardcore commercial.

Vikram had the guts to see me in a totally different image. He has changed my look completely. I'm ethnic, almost gothic with a nose ring dark I look very sultry. For the first time I get to play someone so dark.

Everything from the way I dress, walk, talk, behave is shocking. I feel Red gave me a new image. Very grey, black, blue...all colours except Black. Let's not even go there," she giggles.

"To work with Vikram and my leading man Aftab Shivdasani after the wacky comedy Awaara Paagal Deewana was a pleasure. But Red was a very different experience. It has opened me up as an actress."

Amrita is candid enough to admit her career isn't going the way she would've liked to. "I guess I made a few mistakes. That was bound to be when you're young and reckless. Now I'm learning to curb my impulses, look at my career more maturely. I chose from whatever I came my way. With Red I made a fresh start."

Amrita's sister Malaika Arora never took a career in films seriously. "She never wanted a serious career in films. Her priority is marriage husband and baby. She couldn't give those extended schedules that movies required.

Doing a song in two days and returning home was more her scene. On the other hand I was always very career-oriented. Main kafi filmy thi bachpan se. I was more nautanki. She was more model. My role models were Sridevi and Madhuri.

Malaika was always into the beau monde. ...very propah and chic. I'd read Filmfare. She's read Vogue. Yup, we had chosen our paths from the start."

Amrita loves to be in Bollywood. "I love the buzz and the bustle. I love putting on maekup every morning. I've never encountered sleaziness. Of course it exists in every field. It depends entirely on how an individual projects herself."

And with the Khans hovering protectively around her who would dare to mess around with Amrita? She laughs. "In fact I've done a film with my sister's brother-in-law Sohail. It's Hansal Mehta's intense Raakh. It's an underworld flick.

Only my character survives till the end to tell the tale. So audiences better be nice to me," she giggles and sobers down. "Hansal Mehta has shot it beautifully. Sohail and I are like buddies, very comfortable together. But the big news is that I've signed with BMG-Crescendo called Deewana opposite Madhavan.

It's a murder mystery and a love story done in a very different way. We're going to start this film as soon as Maddy is done with the current schedule of Mani Rathnam's film. We'll shoot in Scotland and London for forty days and finish this film. I'm looking forward to it.

Maddy is really sweet. Then there's Mahesh Manjrekar's Deha where Dino and Jaya Prada are unconventionally paired. I'm the conventional romantic lead with Dino."

Amrita has her fingers crossed. "I've a full plate. I've to do a lot of damage control. Vikram Bhatt's Red and the film with Maddy are the right steps in that direction. I'm looking for that one elusive hit. I'm taking baby steps in the right direction."

After hours? "I spend all my free time with my beautiful little nephew Arhaan. He's the cutest guy in the world."