Pooja Batra to star in US sitcom ‘Outsourced’

NEW DEHLI: Pooja Batra, the former Indian beauty queen and actor, is Hollywood bound.

She is making a comeback with the upcoming American sitcom “Outsourced” and also helping Indian actors find a foothold there with her casting company.

Batra, 36, who married orthopaedic surgeon Sonu Ahluwalia in 2003, is currently settled in Los Angeles and has been running her own casting agency - Glow Bell Inc. Batra has acted in over 21 films including Virasat, Haseena Maan Jaayegi and Nayak - The Real Hero.

“I am pursuing acting in America. I have booked a show there and I am hoping my character develops. It is called ‘Outsourced’. It is for NBC; so I am keeping my fingers crossed,” Batra said. Her last film was the 2005 period dramaTaj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story, which starred Sonya Jehan.

Set in a Mumbai call centre, “Outsourced” is an adaptation of a Josh Hamilton-Ayesha Dharker-starrer by the same name. The show has been picked up by NBC for its fall schedule.

Directed by Ken Kwapis, it stars Ben Rappaport in the lead role. Other actors in the cast include Rizwan Manji, Sacha Dhawan, Rebecca Hazlewood, Parvesh Cheena, Anisha Nagarajan, Pippa Black and Diebdrich Bader.

“It is confirmed and it has been okayed, but right now they are developing the characters and shooting with the principal cast. Then they will focus on the others. So whenever they are writing and developing the show - since it has to be character driven - hopefully I’ll see more of me. But, yes, I am in the show,” added Batra who has still managed to retain her youthful looks.

Batra, who disappeared from the film scene after her marriage, was in Delhi to model at the recently concluded Van Heusen India Men’s Week for designer duo Rohit and Abhishek.

Batra is also spearheading the operations of LA Casting, a Hollywood casting agency in India, to provide opportunities to Indian talent to work in the West.

“My company Glow Bell Inc is trying to set that (LA Casting shop) in India. In fact, I have been here and now because of LA Casting. I have been coming very often,” she said.

Batra was also instrumental in bringing Hollywood actors Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards for Sajid Nadiadwala’s last year release Kambakkht Ishq.

So doesn’t she miss Bollywood? “Yes I do. A lot,” she said.

Has it taken a backseat for now?

“No, I am open to movies. I’d love to come back to Bollywood. I have been there (LA) for five years and it becomes really difficult when you are that far away. So something good has to come my way. Obviously, it hasn’t, so I haven’t done it,” she said with her signature smile.

And her ideal role would be?

“Something that interests me, has a nice character draft and something that I want to do,” said the actor, who has also pursued a course in filmmaking from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2010.