It was an ordinary day with an extraordinarily happy ending. Recently, when Amrita Rao returned home after a day’s shoot, she had no idea the contents of an envelope lying innocuously on her table would change her life forever. The letter informed her she had been chosen to be the new recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award. “It’s the best thing that has happened to me. Fifty four members from 36 associations within the film industry had unanimously selected me; they found me worthy to be honoured with the award. It was a moment of huge pride for me,” she gushes.

Rao’s small but noticeable role as Bhagat Singh’s fiancée in Rajkumar Santoshi’s The Legend of Bhagat Singh helped her bag the lead in Vivah. Though critics panned it, the film did well at the box office, recently completing its silver jubilee. The movie gained much mileage from word-of-mouth publicity. Small-town folks, especially housewives in cities like Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Kanpur, Jaipur and Gwalior lauded its traditional values.
Rao attributes much of the success of Vivah to film-maker Sooraj Barjatya. “I translated the persona of Poonam on the big screen exactly the way Soorajji had visualised it. It wasn’t difficult for me to envision the character. Poonam’s simplicity, her old-world charm and the truthfulness of her emotions made her very appealing.” Rao did her homework well, visiting Mathura and Vrindavan to study the mannerisms of small-town girls to draw upon while essaying this role.

The film also made her M F Husain’s new muse. The octogenarian watched Vivah 17 times and was struck by Poonam’s simplicity. When Rao first heard about this, she was ecstatic to share the honour with leading lights like Madhuri Dixit and Tabu who had caught the painter’s fancy earlier.
Grateful to the banner that has got her so much fame, Rao is quick to rewind to the Barjatyas’ track record of creating winners. “Rajshri has a glorious history. All heroines who have worked with the banner have soared the heights of success, be it Jaya Bhaduri in Uphaar, Meena Kumari in Aarti or Nutan in Saudagar.” No exception herself, Rao is being wooed by top banners today. Currently she has Anil Kapoor’s Shortcut, E Niwas’s My Name is Anthony Gonsalves, David Dhawan’s Hook ya Crook with Siddharth and a Telugu film with Mahesh Babu. She also makes an appearance in a song in comedian Sajid Khan’s maiden directorial venture, Hey Baby.