Daisy Shah is poised to make her Bollywood debut as leading lady with superstar Salman Khan. But for the girl who spent part of her childhood in the suburbs of Mumbai, all she dreamed of was becoming an air hostess. Her father, on the other hand, wanted her to become an IAS officer. “Dombivali was quite a conservative area and girls in jeans would be frowned upon. But it was fine by me. I was good at studies, even though I didn’t like studying,” she says.
'Jai Ho' may be her first Hindi film as a heroine, but Daisy has already made an appearance down South. She has done Kannada films —'Bhadhra', 'Bodyguard', 'Gajendra' and the yet-to-be-released 'Akramana'. But she clearly prefers being known as a Bollywood bombshell.
“Please don’t call me a ‘Southern Siren’,” Daisy pleads, adding, “I’m a Mumbaikar, please don’t associate me with the South!”
How did she feel when she was approached for the role opposite Salman? “I was happy, but went into a state of shock for a while,” she recalls.
On working with her famous co-star, she adds, “Salman is very sweet to say that I deserve being given a chance. He has actually seen me grow.”
Apparently, Salman even compared Daisy to his stepmother Helen. “Yes, I’m honoured that he compared me to Helenji. I started out as a dancer and then went on to be a choreographer,” Daisy remarks.
Recalling her first scene with Salman and Tabu, she says, “I was nervous thinking that they would have to do six or seven takes because of me. But Salman made me rehearse a few times so I was comfortable. But when the shot was okayed on the second take, I wasn’t nervous anymore.” On her role in the film, Daisy quips, “I’m the one who chases Salman in the film. Not the other way around.”
