Monali Thakur is the first singer to win best actress at SAIFF!

Monali Thakur, of ‘Sawaar loon’ fame, who has lately discovered her talent as an actress has won the best actress awars at the South-Asian international film festival in Washington for her hard-hitting performance as a child prostitute in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi. The coveted award makes her the first Bollywood singer to have won an award for acting!

On this ecstatic note, Monali said,

“What can I say? It was a bolt from the blue. I thought the movie was forgotten, though the pain and suffering I went through in portraying the prostitute will remain with me forever. Now this award has strengthened my faith in my decision to pursue a double career as a singer and an actress.”

Is Monali giving up her successful singing career for a new acting career? She said no, don’t worry Monali Thakur fans she won’t stop singing but she does wish to keep acting.

“It has been a well deliberated decision to continue as both an actor and a singer. When I did Lakshmi, the buzz in the singing world was that I was giving up singing for acting. In fact Amit Trivedi asked about my plans. That shook me up. But now I feel I’ve the confidence to overcome people’s doubts and go ahead with both careers. am in no hurry as a singer or an actor. I won’t accept everything that comes my way. The songs I sing have to have something to offer me. The same goes for the roles I accept.”

Monali, who has already completed her second film, a comedy titled Mango directed by Abbas Tyrewala. Speaking about the role Monali says,

“I I’ve a completely different role from what I did in Lakshmi. I play a feisty girl who cons three men played by Rannvijay ( Singha), his brother Harman ( who makes his acting debut) and Chandan Roy Sanyal into believing she loves each one of them. After the dark gut- wrenching role in Lakshmi, I enjoyed this naughty comedy.”

When asked about her career, Monali has a simple message: