Bowl Nisha, bowl

Nisha Kothari is flying high after shooting for a commercial with cricketer Kapil Dev. After all, it is not every day that one gets the chance to be trained in cricket by the legend himself.

The actress was spotted shooting at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai last week with him. After shooting with Kapil, Nisha is in complete awe of him. "He is a legend and I never thought that I would share the same frame with Kapilji," says Nisha. On the first day of the shoot, Kapil Dev asked her if she follows cricket or not? Nisha told Kapil, "I am not a cricket fan, but like any other Indian I get invariably interested in the game if India is playing. But I am not an avid lover of the game."

Although the cricketer was slightly taken aback with Nisha's confession initially, he bonded well with Nisha on the sets and promised to train her in cricket. "Kapilji is a very sweet person. He came up to me and told me that 'I will train you in cricket.' Even girls play cricket, and you should know about the game. I readily agreed to learn cricket from him, because you can't say no to Kapilji," adds Nisha.

Nisha is considered as Ram Gopal Varma's latest muse after Urmila Matondkar and Antara Mali. Does she take an offense when people call her Ramu's muse? "No," pat comes the reply. "Kuch toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna… this is my favorite song and I guess that says it all. I am glad that Ramuji is making films with me and he wouldn't have repeated me in his projects had he felt that I don't suit the character. I am just doing my job. I don't care even if people call me Ramu's muse, it's their problem and not mine," clarifies Nisha.

Currently busy playing Basanti in Ramu's Sholay, the actress was criticised by Hema Malini who played the original Basanti. "I want to make it clear that I am not playing Basanti. My character is Ghungroo and it's a complete departure from what Hemaji played in Sholay. Frankly speaking, no one can match up to Hemaji's performance. She is a veteran actress and I know why she reacted like this when Ramuji signed me for the film. I am not that experienced as an actress, but at least give me a chance. How can you reject me before giving me a chance to prove my point? I know that comparisons are inevitable, but I will try my best to make it as original as possible," she says.

Nisha seems to have become a permanent fixture in Ramu's camp. "I don't know, nothing is permanent in this industry, so I would not like to buy this theory," she laughs.