"My Confident 'Nikamma' Co-Actor Abhimanyu Made Me Nervous", Confides Shilpa Shetty

"My Confident 'Nikamma' Co-Actor Abhimanyu Made Me Nervous", Confides Shilpa Shetty

By Chaitanya Padukone

Effervescent, rejuvenated Shilpa Shetty, who will soon complete 30 years of her acting career, made a honest confession.

The ageless 'Baazigar' (1993) actress was conversing regarding her experiences while shooting her latest slick drama-thriller- romantic- musical movie Nikamma (co-produced and directed by Sabbir Khan) releasing this Friday (June 17th).

Interestingly, I have been interviewing Shilpa right from her 'Baazigar' days and my cordial association with her, goes back a long way. Shared the honest Shilpa," When I resumed my movie-acting career after 14 years to play this amazing multi-layered character Avnee, I almost felt like a newcomer. In fact my co-star Abhimanyu Dassani (cast opposite singer-actress Shirley Setia) was not at all "new" as I presumed, but fully prepared and confident. Actually he initially made me so nervous when I started shooting with him. I had watched Abhimanyu's previous released movie 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota' and he is a brilliant actor, "insisted Shilpa who still finds it thrilling to breathe life into a screen-character. Few are aware that as a teenager, Shilpa was a volley-ball super-champ and more into extra-curricular activities. Which in turn fetched her less percentage at her prelims exams. Which is when her Mom (Sunanda Shetty) considered her a "Nikammi", and counselled-scolded her to shift focus to her academic studies. Finally she got a decent much-higher percentage. The rest, as they say, is filmy history.