For young Madhu Shalini, it is a dream come true to be making her Bollywood debut with Ram Gopal Varma's 'Department'. Though she has worked in a few films down South, bagging a Hindi film came out of the blue. Once the maverick filmmaker spotted her, she went through the usual rounds of auditions and photo-shoots, only to end up playing a pivotal role of a female gangster in the film.

"Yes, Ramu sir happened to look at a few pictures of mine from my earlier films. He called me for the audition and liked what I did. I did a photo-shoot on the same day though I had no clue about which role was I being auditioned for. After seeing the photographs, Ramu sir called me and offered the role. It took me quite some time to come to terms with the fact that I was on for 'Department'", gleams Madhu.

Since the filmmaker comes across as someone overtly serious, Madhu had initial apprehensions while approaching him for clarification of doubts.

"Whatever I knew of him was based on his interviews that I had seen or read", she says, "He came across as a straightforward person with a no-nonsense attitude. When I first met him, I was not sure how to approach him and I had to think twice before doing the same. Thankfully, I found him to be a considerate man who made sure that all his actors were very comfortable while shooting. Once I realised that and the initial inhibition was gone, it was quite comfortable from that point on."

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