I'm not star struck by Ranbir: Sumona Chakravarti

Young girls are swooning over Ranbir Kapoor's cute, chocolate-boy looks in "Barfi!", but TV actress Sumona Chakravarti isn't part of that league. The 24-year-old says she wasn't star struck while sharing the frame with him in the movie, but was definitely impressed with his "chilled out" attitude.

Sumona, best recognised as Natasha Kapoor in popular TV soap "Bade Achche Lagte Hain", has a cameo in the film, which marks the Bollywood debut of southern actress Ileana D'Cruz.

"I play Ileana's friend in the movie. It's a small, cute little part, but I have shared screen space with both RK (Ranbir) and Ileana. It was fantastic to work with Ranbir, he never made me feel as though I was someone he didn't know. He was at ease interacting with everyone, which was great," Sumona told IANS.

"Actually, I am a person who is not star struck by any actor. If anyone asks me, 'Who is your favourite male star?', I usually have nothing to say! So it was the same with RK. He is a chilled out guy, very regular and very normal in attitude. We used to chit-chat on the sets and have tea while shooting in Darjeeling... it was a good atmosphere," she added.

Sumona ended up with a role in "Barfi!" thanks to its director Anurag Basu, whom she calls "Dada".

While most TV actors blow their own trumpet after bagging big screen projects, Sumona preferred to keep mum about her part in "Barfi!".

Asked why, she said: "It's not my big Bollywood launch! Everybody is suddenly talking about my presence in the film. But I never wanted to talk about it. I just did the film for dada. I didn't even know I was going to be a part of the trailer. It's been a big bonus."

Surprisingly, this isn't her first tryst with the big screen. As a youngster, she says she featured in Aamir Khan-starrer "Mann", which released in 1999. But now she wants to do more big screen projects, especially "character-driven" films.

"I certainly want to be a part of good cinema, and language is no barrier for me. I would love to do a Bengali film with Aparna Sen or Rituparno Ghosh. But good, character-driven cinema is what I am looking at. It's very interesting to see the kind of new age cinema that's prevalent today, and I am more inclined towards that," she said.