You can't blame Sheetal Sheth for praying that Hollywood would take note of her performance in her first major film Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World and not worry about her bosom.
For, she recently told Contactmusic.com that many Hollywood agents thought she should have a breast implant.
Sheth, who was raised in a small New Jersey City and graduated with honours from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, was shocked that despite the raves her performance had got in her debut film ABCD over four years ago, Hollywood agents were worried about her bust-line.
She played a rebellious young Indian woman who resists serious relationships and seeks out sexual trysts in the critically acclaimed but little seen ABCD.
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In Hollywood, she says she thought she would problems with her name.
But "they told me to get boobs.""About five different times they have suggested I get breast implants."
But Sheth, who was a founder of the Hindu Students Association in her high school and later a mentor to many younger Indian students at NYU, knew her talent would suffice.
And now, she plays the lead in one of the most-discussed films in recent years, and that too under the direction of Albert Brooks (Mother) who has acted in some of the most acclaimed films in America, including Finding Nemo and Broadcast News.
Sheth plays an assistant to Brooks, who is sent by the American government to India and Pakistan to find out what makes Muslims laugh.
Though she appears to be a bit naïve and star-stricken at the sight of an American stand-up comedian, her character is far from being a wallflower.
'America needs to kick itself in the butt'
'Sheth beams like a ray of sunshine as Albert's chirpy assistant,' wrote the influential trade publication Variety, 'who's as bright and free-thinking as she is eye-catchingly pretty.'
Following the film's premiere at the second Dubai International Film Festival where it premiered, Lebanon's Daily Star in a fairly positive story on the film called Sheth 'luminous'.
Sheth was in New York recently to promote the film which begins its American run on January 20 in New York and Los Angeles, and as she sat down for a one-on-one interview at the Drake Hotel, the actress whose half a dozen films include American Chai said she just cannot get over having worked in a mainstream film.
Though Looking For..., with its reported $7 million budget, cost peanuts compared to the standard Hollywood films, Sheth had mostly to concentrate on acting, though Brooks would sometimes ask her opinion about the correctness of a situation.
"When you work in a very small film, you do your own make-up, carry the chairs and other furniture if necessary," she says. "Here I could really concentrate on acting."
Sheth, 28, who used to spend several months in India each year till she joined NYU, says she feels "very protective" about India and how the country is portrayed in the American media.
So when she read part of the script over a year ago in Los Angeles and had a detailed discussion with Brooks, she felt she "needed to do the film".
Though Brooks, 58, had been to India only once before he began shooting the film, he had a good understanding about
the country, she says. "And he always wanted to know more about the cultural nuances."
He let her decide what kind of accent she should have.
"I was certainly not going to have the exaggerated sing-song accent you find Indians are made to use in Hollywood and British films," she says.
During their preliminary discussions and subsequent talk, she says she was " touched by how much of an effort Albert made to remain authentic".
Hardly a day passed without him asking her, 'Do you think this is OK? Do you think nobody is going to be offended by this?'
She also welcomed the opportunity to act in the film because Brooks was showing how little America knows of the outside world, and even when it tries to do so, the results are far from being satisfactory.
"There have been so many tragedies around, and there have been many acts of violence and bigotry," she explains." It's nice to deal with the conflict and misunderstanding in a different way." The film also shows "how silly we can all be and how ignorant we are".
Sheth accompanied Brooks to Dubai in December for the film festival there.
"It was amazing how the film was received there," she says. Nobody bothered about the controversy its title had triggered with Sony, who dumped the film when Brooks refused to remove the word 'Muslim' from the title.
At the premiere the hall was packed with over 600 dignitaries and high-ranking officials and the two public screenings had the auditorium filled with over 1,000 people.
"I could not imagine such an international audience for a film of this kind even in New York," Sheth says. There were perhaps people from more than 50 countries, she adds.
Many people were surprised that she is an Indian girl who was born and raised in America.
'Really? You weren't raised in India?' one fan asked her, echoing the thoughts of others.
"So I must have done some authentic work," she says, smiling. And nobody asked her about her bosom.
And now, with the media coverage she has been getting, the next most-asked question to her certainly will be: What is your next Hollywood film?
