Several actresses in Bollywood are working hard to shed weight to get to size zero, but debutant Erica Fernandez, who is awaiting the release of her debut Tamil film "Aindu Aindhu Aindhu", feels she needs to put on weight to look presentable for the southern film industry.

"From what I have perceived, audiences in south like to see chubby heroines. I don't think size zero is popular in south as much as it is in Bollywood. I have started working to put on some weight for my upcoming films," Erica told.

However, she is being careful.

"I don't want to put on too much of weight because I have a couple of Bollywood films that I am likely to sign soon. I will know from the release of my Tamil film whether audiences have accepted me the way I look," she added.

She says it is very important to look right and look good in showbiz.

"Lot of time and effort needs to be invested for actors to look good. Despite my busy schedule, I take out time to work out. After all, it's showbiz and, therefore, we need to look good," she said.


In her debut film Tamil thriller, Erica is paired opposite Bharat.

"It was fun working with Bharat. He is a known star in the industry and, therefore, I believe sharing screen space with him will add value to my career," said Erica who has been modeling since the age of 16.

Besides modeling for print and TV ads, Erica was one of the finalists of Miss India 2012. However, she says modeling is not important to be an actor.

"I don't think modeling is necessary to be an actress. Both professions may be about facing the camera, but they are poles apart. As a model, one barely needs to pose, but as an actor one needs to perform, memorise dialogues and do so many other things," she added.

She is also awaiting the release of her Hindi film, tentatively titled "Love Is Not Mathematics", along with Tamil films "Vizhithiru", "Virattu" and Telugu film "Dega".