Exploring her acting potential in her own country would have been an easy option, but German model Claudia Ciesla, whose item number “Balma….” in Akshay Kumar’s upcoming film Khiladi 786 has all the ingredients of becoming a chartbuster, aspires to make it big in Bollywood.
Claudia, who has become a sort of item number specialist ever since she was seen as an inmate in the then Amitabh Bachchan anchored show Bigg Boss 3 , says she was completely taken aback when the production company of the action thriller informed her that the song would feature her favourite star Akshay Kumar. “I instantly agreed to come on board. Being a huge Akshay Kumar fan made it easy for me to give my consent and prepare for the song. For the first time I will be seen dancing in a film. The film marks the return of Akshay in his famous Khiladi series.”
The song has been sung by Himesh Reshammiya. “Ganesh Acharya has done the choreography. So the whole package was interesting. Moreover, I have received an overwhelming response on the Internet. It seems Indians love watching me dance.”
Though she is not a trained dancer, Claudia started getting offers for private shows. “While preparing for the show, I would correspond with choreographers. So whatever I know about dance is through them.”It would not be an exaggeration to say that Bigg Boss 3 gave Claudia a platform to realise her ambition in Bollywood. “Staying in a house full of strangers and being cut off from the rest of humanity was mentally tough. Hindi was an alien language to me. Yet I got the offer when I had come to India and I decided to take up the challenge. My life has changed quite a lot after staying in the house.”
Though she acted as one of the leading actors in a Punjabi film and even learnt the North Indian language, Claudia says her priority right now is to concentrate on Hindi films. “Bollywood is the second biggest film industry and movies in different genres like romance, action, comedy and horror are made here. It offers a platform to even an actor like me.”
