rds: Anand Chandy

I'm standing at the base of a tall apartment complex in Mumbai with a smile on my face. I'm neither armed with a box of chocolates or flowers nor worried about a mountainous credit card bill.

With a laptop slung across my shoulder and a word file I'll need to get to know her better – I don't print by policy to do my bit for the environment – I head up to the 9th floor to meet my Valentine.

There's no traditional coyness as she ushers me in. I wade through a couple of salesmen trying to sell her a Blackberry, her managers and her mother to find a place to wait for her. Her off-screen persona is quite different from her on-screen one and there's no brawny, hirsute man in a safari suit hovering around me before he says, "Sameera will see you now."

Instead the dusky beauty comes straight to the lovely patio on her balcony with an energy bar in hand and all set for a conversation. This isn't an ordinary Valentine's date as you must have noticed. I'm on a date with one of India's hottest starlets- Sameera Reddy.

I had noticed her to be taller than expected two weeks ago on the shoot. If that wasn't intimidating enough, her strong, tomboyish yet effortlessly elegant ladylike persona is disarming to say the least.

"It's hard being single and famous", she adds. She's peeved that the last lot of bouquets had come in for her sister, Sushma. The youngest of the Reddy sisters, Sameera has been privy to the limelight for a long while now. She's aware that men shy away from her when they see her entourage of family, managers and assistants.

She's also aware that when they do come up to her she's most likely to get irritated than pleased as they will goof up and hit on her using lines from her own movies or refer to her in character. Life isn't easy when you're one of the most sought after hotties in the film industry.

While in the north she's drooled over for her oomph factor in movies like Race and Musafir, in the south she's the intelligent girl next door from Vaaranam Aayiram or Ashok. Sameera means different things to different people and she knows how much the whole image matters to her adulating fans. She also knows that it is her business to keep them happy.

Sameera Reddy is the new Indian woman- confident about her sensuality and strong in her views. Currently a fan of Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, being sexy isn't taboo for her. It's a business proposition.

"Being sexy is a brand in itself. If they (her northern audience) think that's all I'm good at, so be it. Hats off to Kim Kardashian for selling something she wasn't." Her southern audience will have none of this though, with them being privy to a tamer side of the star. "I'm the absolute opposite of the roles I play.

I think I'm a lot like Cameron Diaz, who is sporty and funny. I'm extremely playful and boyish. It takes me a while to get into my "sexy" avatars because I'm so far from it. A good sense of humour means the world to me." No, she isn't shuffling an underlying bipolar disorder, I tell myself. She's opening up about what makes her one of the coolest girls I've met in a long while.

Life has been tough growing up with two bombshells for sisters. While her older sisters Meghna and Sushma hogged the limelight, a plumper Sameera was more of an introvert – someone who dreamed of travelling around the world someday.

"It killed me. They stole the entire spotlight." It wasn't until her college days when her sisters' agent dangled the metaphorical carrot of travel luring her in front of the camera. With the promise of a trip to Australia and Rs. 6000, she set off to shoot a Pankaj Udhas music video, "Aur Aahista."

"After the shoot I spent ten days travelling through Sydney and Gold Coast. When I returned the video had unexpectedly became a huge hit. The offers poured in after that."

A trained Kathak dancer, her expressive eyes are an extension of the years of squinting, grimacing and smirking to tell whole stories – something even Clint Eastwood isn't a pro at after all these years. He's got the growling bit spot on though.

"I've learnt everything I know from Kathak and it has made me who I am today. It has not helped in just one single aspect – it's given me a good base for acting too. For example, let's just say the expressions I've learnt have helped in my professional and personal life, " she giggles.

I'm now sceptical about how real that smile and laugh was. Not one to disappoint a fan, she talks about her love for comedy and how she uses it to de-stress every situation.

"Comic timing and a good sense of humour mean everything to me. I mimic people all the time just to make them smile. It's sad that I haven't done enough comedy roles though. I'm going to keep an eye out for them in the future."

While her stellar phone book might be every stalker's wet dream, the entertainment business means something else altogether to her.

"Bollywood is really high-stress, it's a lot of anxiety and it's highly politically charged. It's all about cashing your chips right. Honestly, entertainment today, is less talent and more about marketing yourself.

I find myself enamoured by this bronze diva, who I honestly swore never to talk to after the headache I got after watching Race. Then again, that wasn't meant for me. Her role as Meghna in Vaaranam Aayiram was the one that would appeal to me more.

Unable to control my curiosity I want to know more about her ideal man. While she's not found him yet, she says she wants a man who is sure about himself. He has to be strong and yet leave enough room to have feelings too.

I suck my gut in and try to make a last impression making a statement about it being a woman's world and not a man's. "It always and forever shall be a woman's world. Every successful man has a woman standing behind him; very subtly making him believe that all her ideas are actually his." EPIC FAIL. I'd have rather got her number instead.