Gorgeous southern hottie Mamta Mohandass has said ‘no’ to a Bollywood film opposite Shah Rukh Khan. ! A couple of months ago there were reports in the media that Mamta was B-Town bound, although the headturner hadn’t ever made an official confirmation about the same.

Very recently hitmaker Farah Khan had offered Mamta a role in her directorial venture (tentatively titled Happy New Year) starring SRK. And Mamta politely declined the offer.So what made Mamta give up what seems like every debutante actress’ dream launchpad?

“Well, of course, I’d love to work with Shah Rukh Khan. Who wouldn’t? But Farah Khan approached me for a role in a film which is going to star two other actresses as well. I wouldn’t want to begin my Bollywood stint in a multi-starrer and share the limelight with other actresses. Also the role sounded like a typical glam act, something that I have done before. I want to make heads turn in my first Hindi film,” points out Mamta.

The sexy siren is all set for a second innings in Tollywood with Kedi in a multi dimensional role opposite Nagarjuna. “My role has a lot of shades. She’s a woman with many faces and is very, very real,” elaborates Mamta. We’ve heard that she essays a grey character in the film, becoming the latest to join the ‘grey’ brigade of Tollyland after NTR Jr and Allu Arjun. “Yeah. I play a grey character. I think Gen Z audience will connect to this character well… she’s a very flesh-and-blood person, not some perfect woman,” says Mamta who has played roles with negative shades before (Yamadonga and King).

She’s also disappointed about missing out on a Tamil film opposite Kollywood superstar Ajith. “Well, I don’t want to do second lead roles. I went over to meet the producers to clarify my stand and they understood it,” she reasons. So while Mamta’s “open” to doing “any language film”, the role has to be “exciting and demanding” before the leggy beauty says ‘yes’.

In fact, Mamta admits that she’s learnt her lessons well and won’t repeat any professional mistakes she’s committed before, including doing small roles.“Doing an inconsequential role in King was a blunder. My role was edited badly. I hope Telugu filmmakers offer me significant roles after seeing me in my next,” she says. Mamta also wants to build good professional vibes with her Tollywood co-stars. So, the minute she rejected a Balakrishna film, she sms-ed him informing him about it. “I didn’t have dates for the film. But I didn’t want any hard feelings,” confesses Mamta.

The multi-lingual actress who’s wrapped up the Malayalam film Passenger says that she likes doing “interesting roles” in her mother-tongue.

Mamta is also one of the few T-town actresses who calls a spade and spade. Has that landed her in trouble? “Not yet! My parents taught me to be straight forward in my approach to everything. They taught me to be independent and honest. So far it’s only helped me,” she says with a smile.