Rampur's politics wooed her away for a few years but now Jaya Prada is ready to return to her first love, films. In 2011, Jaya whom Satyajit Ray described as the most beautiful actress in India, made an impact in Malayalam cinema with the Mohanlal starrer, Pranayam, which won her several best actress awards. In 2012, she won over the Kannada box office with Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna. Now the focus is Bollywood. She's signed a paranormal thriller being directed by Sanjay Sharma who as part of his research attended many lectures at paranormal institutes and incorporated some of these real-life incidents into his script. “I'm playing a queen who's unlike the royal of Simhasanam or Sangolli Rayanna's Kittur Chennamma, the 18th century warrior queen of Karnataka, revered as a goddess and first enacted on screen by Saroja Devi. Rani Sahiba is glamorous, with grey shades. No moti haars for her, she can carry off western wear just as elegantly,“ says the actress who's been on a strict diet and training industriously for the last three months.

She points out that after doing central roles in Kamal Haasan's Dasavatharam and Shilpa Shetty's Desire, she was determined to do a film and play a character she's never attempted. “I've never experimented with a thriller and I've mostly played virtuous characters. But people's expectations have changed, youngsters are now looking at different stories and thrillers are happening today,“ she reasons. “I trust Sanjay with whose elder brother, Anil Sharma, I gave hits like Maa, Elaan E Jung and Farishtey. In Maa I played a ghost who returns to protect her child.“

She admits that in real life she's terrified of ghosts and scared to even enter a dark room alone. “So doing this film is a really brave decision,“ she laughs.

This film will have actors from India and Hollywood and will be shot in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Jaya Prada has also signed a Tamil Malayalam bi-lingual and is in talks for another Hindi film with a big director: “I'll have some more good news soon," she says enigmatically.