Former Miss India (South), Shamata Anchan plays the lead character Anjali in Ashutosh Gowariker’s television series Everest. How did she bag the role?
“The casting director of the show noticed me in one of my TV commercials and called me for an audition. I was excited to hear that it is for an Ashutosh Gowariker project, and gave a series of screen tests. I was selected. I’m happy about the fact that it’s not the regular stuff that one watches.”
About her background, Shamata says, “I belong to Mangalore, though I live in Mumbai. I was studying at Welingkars college, when a photographer spotted me outside McDonald’s and offered me a modelling assignment.
I wasn’t keen at first, but got my portfolio shot anyway. Then I participated in Miss India (South) and won it. It gave me a direct entry into the Miss India pageant.”
Were there difficulties while shooting for the show at high altitude? “We have been shooting for 10 months in the freezing temperatures at Uttar Kashi.
Also, we didn’t have much to do at the locations after the shoot was wrapped up, so to entertain ourselves, we used to come up with this Secret Santa game where we would keep surprising each other by gifting each other small things whatever we could get from the tiny stores around.”
