Giselle's dream ride ( Bollywood Journey )

Giselle Monteiro made her Bollywood debut opposite Saif Ali Khan in the 2009 hit, Love Aaj Kal. She played a village belle and no one doubted that the salwar kameez clad, shy-looking girl was not really Indian but a Brazilian model who could barely speak Hindi.

After the movie's release, Monteiro walked the ramp as showstopper for top Indian designers and admits that despite having ramp experience, she was nervous when she strutted on the Indian runway. 'The first time I took to the ramp in India was for a Ritu Kumar show and I love her clothes,' says Monteiro, in her accented voice.

Her revised resume boasts being chosen as the face of fashion brand Wills Lifestyle and bagging a Red Chillies production film. She can't talk much about the latter, but a little coaxing and she tells us that she's paired opposite a newcomer in the film and that she's been shooting in parts of Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai. 'The film has been directed by Abbas Roshan. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it will be as big a hit as Love Aaj Kal,' she says.

The shooting has kept her busy for quite some time now, which is why she couldn't do any editorial shoots for fashion magazines lately. 'But right after Love Aaj Kal, I was splashed on the covers of Elle and Femina and more recently Marie Claire. But I had to be out of sight for three full months because of hectic shooting schedules. Now I have time on my hand, and hopefully they'll call me back,' she says.

Favourite brands: Wills Lifestyle (of course!), Chanel and Marc Jacobs. I shop a lot from the street shops in Bandra too, but I can't recollect their names.
Favourite Hindi one-liner: (Laughs) My Hindi is still not very good, but Bollywood's favourite word seems to be pyaar.
On Bollywood latka jhatkas (dancing): It was tough to pull off those moves for Love Aaj Kal. Bollywood dancing is a different ball game. Fortunately, I don't have to dance much in my new movie. I had enrolled for a Bollywood dance class previously, but had to stop because of shooting. I'll resume it soon.
Friends in Bollywood: I'm in touch with Imtiaz Ali. We chat occasionally. My other B-town friends would be the entire unit of my upcoming film. I never feel like I'm working when I'm with this unit.

Indian divas better be wary. Bombshells from South America seem to be the flavour of the season. Sporting toned bodies and unafraid to flash skin at the camera, these women have the advantage of passing off as Indian because of their similar skin tones. * Possibly the most popular South American actress in B-town right now, Barbara Mori is waiting for the release of her movie, Kites, opposite Hrithik Roshan. Miss Mori managed to ruffle a few feathers and allegations of a romance between her and Roshan entertained Bollywood watchers for months.

Model Maria Gomez sparked off a feeding frenzy after her sexy item number in Teen Patti. Despite accumulating a legion of fans, the lady seemed to have dropped off the radar. Model Bruna Abdallah first conquered the Indian modeling scene, and then moved on to become a popular VJ with Channel V. She then made her real interests known after an item number in Cash.