/> It's apparently been a stressful time for dusky Koena Mitra.

"My father has been very unwell and in hospital. I've been flying in and out of Kolkata. In the middle of all this personal trauma I had to fly off to Hong Kong for some intense action training."

So why can't she just get her father over to Mumbai?

"Oh how I'd love that!" sighs Mitra. "But my sister studies in Kolkata. And my parents can't come away. It would be a dream to have them over with me. It would make so much of a difference to have my parents living with me. But wishes can't be horses."

Koena is currently doinga lot of horse-riding and other rugged activities. She claims it's for cop's role that she will be playing in a film by a new Bollywood director.

Truth is, Koena is all set to play a sensuous sinuous warrior with supernatural powers in an international film entitled Karn to be co-produced by Pritish Nandy Communications.

Koena spent May and June in Hong Kong training for Tai Chi and other forms of martial arts. Apparently Koena was chosen because PNC's American partners for the project were looking for someone dusky, husky and athletic. PNC sent them a DVD of their film Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena featuring Koena.

Says the actress, "I won't deny that I've been training for a film. But I can't right now reveal what it is. I'll say this,though. Once you are trained in the international martial arts your body and mind become toned permanently. You can take on any action role.

Continues Koena, "I've always been very careful with my assignments. There's no point in doing a dozen films per year which come and go.

From my first release, Sanjay Gupta's Musafir, to my most recent Apna Sapna Money Money (for producer Subhash Ghai) producers and directors have repeated me in their films.

It's this faith that I've found in Subhash Ghai, Pritish Nandy, Sanjay Gupta and other Bollywood bigwigs that has kept me going. Otherwise I'd have simply left."

Prod her a bit more about the international project and she sighs, "Why do we place so much importance on international offers? To me, making a name in Bollywood is far more important than trying to find a place abroad."

Apparently the character that's she plays in Karn isn't Indian. After John Abraham in Deepa Mehta's Luna, Koena would be the first Indian actor to break the ethnic barrier.