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Former Miss Teen World hopes she will make her mark in Indian cinema.

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Read it at the International Business Times. Read it at Khaleej Times.

By Kanika Tandon

LONDON: She has been crowned Miss Liverpool, Miss Teen World, Miss Teen Great Britain and Miss England (runner-up). Amy Jackson made her entry into the South Indian cinema with the movie "Madharsapattinam" and debuted in her first Bollywood Hindi "Ekk Deewana Tha," opposite Prateik Babbar. Jackson, who is now working on her next movie "Thadavam," starring Tamil superstar Vikram, and set for an autumn release, spoke with Kanika Tandon.

Q: What do you think is your unique selling point?

A: What works in my favour is that I don't take myself too seriously. Everything up until now has happened so amazingly and I haven't had to worry about anything, it has all just fallen into place. I think that if I continue with a relaxed but focused attitude I will hopefully make my mark here in India.

Q: Modelling, or acting — what do you prefer?

A: I had no idea I wanted to act until the opportunity from South Indian director A. L. Vijay came along in 2009. Now that I've completed two movies, there is nothing that comes close to seeing the finished product on the silver screen. So definitely my acting career beats the modelling.

Q: Why did you choose to work in the Indian film industry?

A: I never... it chose me. I had no acting experience and no idea about the Indian film industry. India always fascinated me but I'd never visited it my life, until I started shooting for "Madharsapattinam." It is literally fate that I'm here!

Q: How did "Ekk Deewana Tha" happen?

A: After the release of "Madharsapattinam" in 2010, A. L. Vijay, the director, took me to meet Gautham Menon. I was very nervous because Gautham is huge in South India and I wasn't sure why he wanted to meet me. It turned out that he had a Tamil movie project in mind and thought I'd suit the role, but a week later he wanted me to fly to Chennai for a look test for his Hindi project. Needless to say I went and after the shoot he said to me, "How do you feel about becoming a Bollywood heroine then?" I was ecstatic! I had no idea I actually wanted to break into Bollywood, until it actually happened.

Q: How different are the Tamil and Hindi films to work in?

A: If I'm completely honest I can't say that there was too much difference. For both movies so far, I've had a South director (both Vijay and Gautham) so there was no change there. In both movies, the Tamil and Hindi, the music has played a huge part with A.R. Rahman composing for Gautham's "Ekk Deewana Tha" and A.R. Rahman's nephew, G.V. Prakash, composing the music for Vijay's "Madharsapattinam." The only thing I have noticed is that I had a lot more dialogue heavy scenes in my Hindi project but both movies were performance-based movies. What I can say is that the climate was much better in Mumbai compared to the 42 degree heat we shot in Chennai for my Tamil debut!

Q: What do you like about India?

A: With "Madharsapattinam" and "Ekk Deewana Tha" I got the chance to travel all over India. We shot in Agra, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Trivandrum, Madurai, Mumbai, Pondicherry — it was fabulous. What I like most about India, is that in one country you have so many different walks of life to see and experience. I could see the traditional Indian culture in places like Kerala and Madurai and the new metropolitan vibe in cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

Q: Have you learnt any Hindi words?

A: I've learnt quite a bit of Hindi over the last few months. I've made it my New Year's resolution to work on my diction and Hindi for upcoming projects and hired a Hindi tutor to help me. (Global India Newswire)