Never say die. That's what this leggy lass believes in. And that's why Pooja Batra is looking forward to her second innings in tinsel town. What's she excited about? Akbar Khan's dream project 'Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story', in which she plays the scheming queen Noorjahan.

"I have slogged for this character," Pooja quips from her cozy Los Angeles home. "Lots of research has gone into the making of Noorjahan. I even watched 'Cleopatra' a couple of times, so as to get a hang of the royalty," Batra explains.

Her hard work included burning midnight oil and browsing through historical literature. If that wasn't painstaking enough, she was given lessons to improve her Urdu diction. Besides doing research to go into the skin of the character, she also had confabulations with eminent historians.

And at last, all her efforts do seem to have paid off – as those who have watched rushes of the movie, are specially raving about Batra's performance. But director Akbar Khan has the final word: "I always knew, Pooja would do justice to this negative role, but hadn't realized, she would surpass my expectations. The girl is finally headed for a lot of critical acclaim and awards too".

Just for the record:
Noorjahan (played by Pooja Batra), the empress of India and a ravishing beauty, was highly skilful in politics and politicking. She drank like a fish, and treated her husband Emperor Jahangir (played by Arbaaz Ali), Ladli Begum (Kim Sharma), Arjumand Bano (Sonya Jahan) and Prince Khurram (Zulfi Syed), like pawns on the chessboard of her desires.