For model-turned-actress Gauri Karnik, playing Tina Marie is a dream come true. What better launch could a nineteen-year-old ask for?

Does she have anything in common with the character then? Well, her singing actually! Gauri says she is a trained classical singer having learnt Hindustani vocal for six long years. But she adds, "My singing has never made my teacher jealous or insecure."

The story goes that director Tanuja Chandra needed a fresh face because she felt a star, with a standing of her own, would not be able to convey the gawkiness this protégé in the film was to project. Plus, she needed to emphasize the 15-20 years age difference between the mentor and the protégé. The girl was to be young, a little wild and a bit crazy. Gauri, she says, was quite unusual. The first time she walked into Chandra`s office, she tumbled and fell! So that`s what won her the role, then.