/> Sameera has no songs in Race. And she claims she doesn't miss them.

"When you see the film you'll realize there was no space for singing in my character. I don't think it's important to have songs to make your presence felt. Mr Bachchan didn't sing in Zanjeer. And neither did Rani Mukherjee in Black."

Sameera has tapped her comic vein in Race. "Anil Kapoor and I had done something very serious in our earlier film together Musafir. Here we just let ourselves go. I had never done comedy before."

But the film that finds Sameera immersed in a complete comic climate is Ashwini Dheer's 123 where believe it or nuts, Sameera is paired with Paresh Rawail.

"So what if I've no song in Race? I've an entire romantic duet with Pareshji in 123. Our whole encounter is based on a comic misunderstanding.

I learnt all there was to learn about about comic timing from him. I'd have done the film just for the pleasure of learning so much about comedy from Pareshji. But I also wanted to work with Ashwini Dheer.

I'm a big fan of his sitcom Office Office. Such straight-faced humour! That's what he has brought into our film also."

Now the funny part of Sameera's career is over. She gets into the grim mode to play a Naxalite in Ananth Mahadevan's Red Alert.

"I play a girl called Laxmi who's ferocious committed to her cause. No funny stuff here. No glamour. I guess I was chosen because I'm from Andhra and also because I've done serious cinema with Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

After Kaal Purush I was compared with Smita Patil. And I think she has played a Naxalite