British model-actress Amy Jackson was only 17 when she was signed for the Tamil film Madrasapattinam and flew down to India for a six-month schedule. “I was playing an English Governor's daughter and got away with my weird accent. I was young and directionless but I've realised since that being an Indian actor is a lot of hard work and choosing not to go with the flow,“ says the 24-year-old while her mother and team are asleep in the adjacent room of the vanity van.

Everyone is tired after a harrowing week. Amy has been filming Shankar's big-budget sequel of Enthiran, 2.0, which will be releasing in Hindi as Robot 2 and Sohail Khan's yet-to-be-titled production, featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, almost simultaneously. On Sunday she air-dashed to Chennai to launch her upcoming Tamil film, Theri, proudly informing that she has mastered two foreign languages, Hindi and Tamil now.

It hasn't been easy though. Amy recalls mugging up pages after pages of dialogue for her first shot with Rajinikanth. “I was so nervous that I bungled up my lines. But when I tried to apologise, Rajini sir pointed out that he has done 250 films so far and retakes aren't a problem as long as the final shot is satisfying,“ she smiles.

The second instalment in the Robot franchise is being made on the scale of a Hollywood extravaganza. Rajinikanth is filming in Chennai, Amy will join him next month. The film is expected to wrap up in Delhi in October. The actress had earlier shot over two-and-a-half years for Shankar's 2015 Tamil-romantic thriller, I, opposite Vikram. This time she's paired with Rajinikanth and is re uniting with her Singh Is Bliing costar Akshay Kumar who plays the antagonist. “I've watched the original six-seven times, Shankar (director) and Rajini sir call me a younger Aishwarya Rai. That was a huge compliment since I look up to Aishwarya,“ she gushes, admitting that she had to pinch herself to believe she was working with The Rajinikanth even though he never makes you feel there's a superstar in the room. “But he has a certain aura, no wonder he's considered a God in Tamil Nadu.“

Amy is the only woman on the 2.0 set apart from one costume designer from Los Angeles. “Mostly it's just the gentlemen and me and since Shankar knows I want to play a Tomb Raider-like character, there's some action in store for me too.“

Amy herself is working towards re-branding herself from just a commercial actress to a substantial performer. “The film with Nawaz is a smaller budget, role-oriented film. It also features Seema Biswas. Last year I did a Tamil film with Dhanush, Thanga Magan, which was all about the acting. In this film too I'll be more than just a glam doll.“