Reema in Vijayanthimala's dancing shoes
by USMAN GHAFOOR
After wowing her fans as well as viewers across the subcontinent with her dance in various international shows, Lollywood queen bee Reema is now headed for the United States where she will participate in Bollywood International Awards ceremony as a classical dance performer from Pakistan. This was disclosed by the actress, talking exclusively to The Nation Plus.
Reema, who recently returned from Malaysia after a two-month long, start-to-finish shooting spell for her debut directorial venture, Koi Tujh Sa Kahan, was excitement personified, "I feel very honoured that I was asked by the Bollywoodwallas to pay a tribute to their dancing legend, Vijayanthimala.
"The event organisers told me that if there was one film girl after Madhuri and Aishwarya who they thought fit for the performance, it was me. Since Madhuri is in the family way, and Aishwarya's dates were also not available, they opted for me."
Reema said that her performance would be a part of the segment within the awards show, titled 'Tributes to Legends', in which Bollywood divas Bipasha Basu, Amisha Patel and others were likely to pay homage to yesteryears' actresses such as Meena Kumari, Mumtaz, Zeenat Aman, Helen and Vijayanthimala.
"It is a great honour for me to be stepping into the shoes of an actress who was the greatest dancers on Indian cinema," she said, adding that she was due to receive a CD from the event organisers containing Vijayanthimala's best numbers.
Reema also said that she had declined the organisers' offer to use a Bollywood choreographer for rehearsals, "I told them that I'd rather prepare with the best people available here. Most probably I am going to be rehearsing with Khanu (Samrat) or Nigah Hussain."
About her first home production, Koi…, Reema said that the shooting had been finished, and the film's editing unit had already left for Bangkok.
It may be mentioned here that Reema replaced model-turned-actress Sofia Mirza with Miss India 2001's third runner-up, Simran for her film. "She (Simran) is a British national, so nobody should have any problems," she said, "I opted for her because she is a great-looking model as well as a popular music VJ."
Reema also said that she was planning to set up "a proper production office, where I'll operate from."
