Niharika "Miss Lovely" Singh is on cloud nine after Cannes visit

Dehradun-born Niharika Singh is on cloud nine after she recently attended the Cannes Film Festival along with director Ashim Ahluwalia for the screening of his film Miss Lovely. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. Miss Lovely follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mid-1980s. Avers Niharika, “I just couldn’t believe that I would be attending the mother of all festivals when I was told to attend the Cannes Film Festival. It was a fantastic experience and kind of a fairy tale experience. Here was a girl whose very first film was being shown on such a big platform was itself a big compliment.” She continues, “I shall cherish those valuable moments all my life. To me the attendance at the fest brought a lot of firsts. The people, whom I interacted with, were so humble and courteous that I got instantly floored.” But the film has not been released in India yet. “Yes, the film will travel to couple of more film festivals in a short span. The makers have roped in a couple of international distributors and the film should release hopefully by end of the year.” It has been a long wait for Niharika to hit the celluloid screens since she won the Femina Miss India Earth contest in 2005. She later went on to represent India at the Miss Earth pageant in Manila, Phillipines. “I was approached to act in films. I did a comedy called A New Love Ishtory with Himesh Reshmmiya and Rakesh Bapat directed by John Matthew Matthan. But unfortunately the film could not find a release date yet.” Regarding, A New Love Ishtory, it was initially supposed to release in 2008 but the film’s release was shelved after Himesh’s string of flops. Recently T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar declared that he will release the film only after Dama Damm! hits the screens. The film’s release has been tentatively fixed for 23 August, 2013. Moving on, Niharika has also shot for a Kannada film Private Number that is awaiting release. “Such is my luck that a 10-film deal with noted directed Raj Kanwar went down the drain after his demise some time back,” quips the actress. But Niharika is not at all depressed; on the contrary, she is excited about her future. Asked to name a director with whom she wishes to work with, Nihraka is quick to reply, “Mira Nair” though she terms all other current directors a ‘good lot’. And when at leisure, Niharika indulges in a lot of voluntary work. “After my 2005 Femina win, I went to the ashram of Swami Chidanad Saraswati and planted 500 saplings and did a lot of social work.” Talking of her home state Uttarakhand, the actress is quick to say, “It is a beautiful state. I am indeed privileged and honoured to have born there.” And giving her message to young film aspirants from the state she says that “they need to come out of the comfort zone and slog it out in Mumbai” “See me” she says, “today I can afford to come back to Dehradun with pride after slogging it out for over a year. That’s called a good break, end Niharika.