The Hollywood action comedy Spy, directed by Paul Feig, has got the global audience chuckling.The film that has Jude Law, Jason Statham and Melissa McCarthy is being talked about because Nargis Fakhri got her break in the West with this one. Excerpts from an interview with Nargis...

How did you prepare for your role as a special agent?
I had to do a week of intense training and learned action choreography. It was tough since I have no training in hardcore martial arts.

Tell us some lesser-known things about Jason, Melissa and Jude.
Jason is super funny and a really cool bloke. Melissa is hilarious but she is also really sweet and caring. She would always help adjust my jump suit and brush the dust or lint off me. Jude is down-to-earth. Also, Rose Byrne is such a sweetheart and funny as well.

How did Bollywood react to your break in Spy? Talk us through your journey to Hollywood.
People are really excited to see me in this film. I'm getting good feedback. I met Paul and his wife Laurie a few years ago and we stayed friends ever since. Both are into world cinema and watch Bollywood films. So, they were aware of my work. One day, Paul mentioned that there was a character in his next film called Lia and he asked me if I was interested. I was super excited to work with him on my first Hollywood film.

Spy, distributed in India by Fox Star Studios, releases today.

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Upala KBR (DNA; March 12, 2014)

With just two releases to her credit, Nargis Fakhri is still trying to find her place in Bollywood. But that hasn’t stopped her from rubbing producers the wrong way. The actress was committed to doing the remake of Shaukeen over a year ago. At that time, the film was to be directed by Rumi Jaffrey. Reveals a source. “She had even started taking diction classes, arranged by the producers.” Over the following months, things changed and the project became bigger and better. Tigmanshu Dhulia was roped in to write the film and Abhishek Sharma replaced Rumi as the film’s director. Nargis was overjoyed. The film is scheduled to go on floors in April this year. However, the makers were in for a rude shock a few days ago when Nargis asked them to revise her dates as she was being approached by Hollywood director Paul Feig for his new film.

A source reveals, “It was downright unprofessional on her part to ask the producers to change their schedules at the last minute. The producers called Nargis to their office for a meeting, during which she cried, and admitted that she didn’t want to lose the opportunity of doing a Hollywood film.” Nargis was candid enough to confess that being an American, acting in a Hollywood film would be her first priority. That was the last straw. The producers decided to drop her from the film that very day as her priority was not a lead role in a Bolly film but a bit part in a Hollywood movie. Abhishek confirms, “Yes, there were some last minute date issues from her side which we could not accommodate so we have decided to replace her.”

Losing Nargis turned out to be a blessing for the makers of Shaukeen. They are now in talks with Shraddha Kapoor and she has almost been finalised for the role. She has loved the script and dates are being worked out presently.

Nargis confirms about the development. “Unfortunately, Shaukeen got postponed by several months and there was another project in the pipeline that required my dates. I was very excited to be a part of the film, and we tried really hard to work the dates out, but couldn’t. I was really looking forward to working with Abhishek. He is a wonderful man and I hope I can work with him in the future.”