Beauty and Bollywood go hand in hand since the days of Madhubala and Meena Kumari. Be it Sharmila Tagore, Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi, Aishwarya Rai or Katrina Kaif; they've all impressed us by their looks before they made a mark with their talent.

Now joining the list of the industry's most gorgeous new faces, is a stunner called Mandana Karimi.

An import from Iran, the babe will hit the silver screen in maverick director Vikram Bhatt's forthcoming film Bhaag Johnny as a lead alongside Kunal Khemu and Zoa Morani.

Born to an Indian father and an Iranian mother, Mandana grew up in Tehran, before globetrotting and landing in India and being discovered by Vikram Bhatt. The gal may be a looker, but the actress in her is more concerned about versatility.

`I don't want to be known just for my looks, ` she quips. `I'm ready to experiment with roles from everything cliche to bizarre. My aim is to enact varied characters with all kinds of shades, ` remarks Mandana. But ask her about her role in Bhaag Johnny and all she says is, `Wait and watch. Let me not spoil the surprise.`


Coming from a foreign country, one might think that Mandana would have to learn Hindi first. But the gal reveals, `I can speak Hindi pretty well, though I'm working on perfecting my accent now.`

What's more! Mandana has walked the ramp for many fashion designers including JJ Valaya, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Rohit Bal, Anna Singh, Satya Paul and even done an advertisement for Royal Stag with none other than the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, and another one for Sony Ericsson with Kareena Kapoor.

With her debut film nearing completion, Mandana sure makes an interesting debutante to watch for!