Tollywood to prove lucky?

Sanjay Dutt’s niece Nazia Hussain — she is his maternal uncle’s granddaughter — is all set for her first Tollywood release, Nee Jathaga Nenundali. The film is a remake of the Bollywood movie Aashiqui 2. Though Nazia comes from a Bollywood family and could have easily bagged a big-banner movie, she chose the path less taken.

“I would have gotten everything easy but what’s the fun in that? There were times when I was upset because even though I was determined to make it big, I had to face rejection. You might be strong but rejection after rejection can pull you down. But at the same time, I have managed to rise from such falls. It made me who I am right now. So yeah, I don’t regret taking this path,” she says.

Nazia was always into sports during school and never thought that she would take up acting. It was her father’s dream to see his daughter become an actress. “I had a normal childhood. My mum is a beautician and my father is into real estate. It was more of my dad’s dream ki ‘meri beti heroine banegi’. I always  thought I would become a beautician like my mum and go abroad and study. But later on, I thought why not give acting a shot?” says Nazia who joined Roshan Taneja’s acting academy after Class XII and got a diploma in acting.

Talking about her struggle Nazia says, “I managed to find casting co-ordinators who sent me for auditions. For about seven months all I did was give auditions, run here and there, stand in the queue, wait for my turn… Eventually I bagged two movies, Say Yes To Love and Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai, which released in 2012.”

Unfortunately both movies did not work well at the box-office. “Those movies didn’t click for me and because of that nobody really knew who I was. But because many people didn’t know about these films either, I could still keep trying for my big-break.”

Talking about her upcoming movie, Nee Jathaga Nenundali, which is the remake of Aashiqui 2, she says, “When I saw the original film, I realised I would have loved to work in Aashiqui 2. I was always open to acting in the films down South even though I don’t know the language.”

Though Nazia shares a great relationship with “Sanjay chachu”, she doesn’t look up to him for career advice. “I don’t go to chachu for any advice, to be honest. I usually turn to my parents.” She adds, “But I am doing a movie which stars him. My next movie is Sanjay Dutt Production’s Hasmukh Pighal Gaya, opposite Arrmaan Ralhan and the supporting cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff and Amitabh Bachchan.”

Before wrapping up she says, “I have had a very slow start. I am waiting for my next two films to come out and after the release, I am sure I will get more interesting offers.”