After spending 75 gruelling days in the jungle for a five-second role, Tejaswini Kolhapure says she'd "love to work with" Mani again. Is she desperate or just plain stupid?

When she signed on, Padmini Kolhapure's sister Tejaswini Kolhapure was told her role in Raavan was a "prominent" one (she plays Ravi Kissen's wife in the film). She spent two and a half gruelling months away from home and husband (filmmaker-actor Pankaj Saraswat) in the jungles shooting.



And what does she have to show for it? A passing shot lasting no more than five seconds in a wedding song!

Won't deny it
Surprisingly, Tejaswini doesn't try to dodge the savage editing of her part with sugar-coated words. When asked about her blink-and-miss role she said, "Mani Sir and his entire team knew what my role was. I shot for a good 75 days...the role in the film is what you saw. Nevertheless it was a treat working with Mani Ratnam. It's crazy to say this after what I've gone through. But I'd love to work with him again."

Tejaswini has been unlucky in career from the start. Her first film as leading lady Anurag Kashyap'su00a0 Paanch neveru00a0 got released. But she's hopeful about the future.u00a0 "I've finished Happi with Pankaj Kapoor which Bhavna Talwar has directed.

I've also done a short film Salt & Pepper about farmers' suicides directed by Mohinder Pratap Singh and Shashank Ghosh's segment inu00a0 the Mumbai short film Mumbai Cutting. Ironically, in Shashank's film I play an actress trying to find a foothold in the film industry. I'm just keeping myself doing stage plays until my time arrives.

Not the only instance
>>u00a0 One of Tejaswini's co-stars in Raavan says, "At least Tejaswini is visible in one shot in Raavan. Poor Sadashiv Amrapurkar! At his age, he was on location in the jungles for 90 days. In the final cut, he isn't in the film for even a shot."
>> Sachin Khedekar who also shot for the film, (he plays Abhishek's father and is seen in a passing shot) also had his role chopped off because Mani wanted to focus on the Abhishek-Aishwarya story.

Fact: R Madhavan and Vidya Balan had their roles severely chopped off inu00a0Mani Ratnam's last Hindi film Guru.