Ayesha Takia is still the blushing bride

She has been married for a month, but Ayesha Takia
is still the blushing bride. Seated in the green room of photographer Vicky
Idnani’s studio, touching up her make-up for a photo shoot, the 23-year-old
actor laughs, “Seriously, being married makes me realise we should have done
this the very first day we met. I recommend it to everyone. Takia and
restaurateur Farhan Azmi dated for five years before they finally tied the knot.
While many in Bollywood dated, broke up and found new love, Azmi and Takia went
about town, professing their love for each other. “We got into the relationship
knowing well that we would get married,” she says. There have been rumours that
the daughter-in-law of a political family — Farhan’s father Abu Azmi is a
Samajwadi Party MP — would not return to the glamour world, but Takia is now
shooting for Revathy S Sharma’s untitled film.

She is still virginal in certain matters, though.
The actor has maintained that, marriage or not, she won’t kiss onscreen nor will
she wear a bikini. But in times like these when bikinis make the fortunes of top
actors, why the fuss? “I’ve been brought up to believe it is my work that
matters. And if the directors feel I am asking for too much, they are free to
approach other actors. One of her career’s greatest ironies is that while her
performances have received a slew of awards, none of her films has been a hit.
“Of course, I would like my films to do well, but I am pretty used to them doing
average business. It would be an insult if they ran down my performance,” she
says.

Would things change with ‘Paathshala’ where she acts
opposite Shahid Kapoor, and ‘Wanted: Dead and Alive’ with Salman Khan? I am
really excited about the latter because it is a typical masala film, something I
have never done before,” she grins. Sharma’s woman-oriented film will have Takia
go de-glam again, which seems to be the latest trend in the industry. “For me,
it isn’t about following a trend. If I was part of the numbers game, I would
have done very different films,” she says.