South actress Raai Laxmi is all set to make her Bollywood debut in Deepak Shivdasani's Julie 2, produced and directed by him. With the film's release date to be announced soon, BT caught up with her for a quick chat. Excerpts...

Your Bollywood debut is also your 50th film. Was this a planned move?
I couldn't have asked for a better film than this for this landmark in my career. However, I'd never planned my Bollywood debut. I was looking at women-centric scripts down South, when this offer came my way through common connections. I was aware that the first part had a lot of skin show, and insisted on this film being different. And, it is indeed different. Julie 2 may have a lot of skin show, but it also has a hard-hitting, relatable story.

Could you take us through your character in the film?
The film revolves around the nepotism in the industry, which was recently talked about. I play a small-town girl, who faces many difficulties before achieving success as an actress.

As a 49-films-old actress, you could have chosen any film to make your Bollywood debut. Why Julie 2?
This film has a beautiful story. I was offered a lot of films in Bollywood, but this one stole my heart. Also, Deepakji is a brilliant director to work with.

After doing some impres sive work down South, actress Raai Laxmi is now stepping into Bollywood with A R Murugadoss' thriller Akira, a South remake that has Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. Laxmi has finished shooting the first schedule during which all her scenes were with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who makes his debut here as the antagonist. “I am doing this film essentially because it is helmed by Murugadoss Sir. Some established names are involved with the project,'' says the actress, who plays a dominating and bold character in the action-thriller. “This film's a great debut for me. Even as I will be seen in a special appearance, I've an important part to play in the plot. I'm not there just to add glamour. I have always wanted to move to Bollywood and I'm really excited that I bagged this film,“ says Laxmi, who began her acting career at an early age of 15 and has done close to 50 films in all four languages - Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada in a span of nine years. Bollywood is all set to welcome one more South Indian beauty.