IANS

What makes someone a movie star in India and Pakistan? A smooching controversy? A weepy deportation, and equally tearful return? A self-declared peace mission? Pakistani actress Meera has done all of the above - and now wants to be the first India-Pakistan film diva.

"I have got a lot of love from the audience of this country," Meera told IANS. "That, coupled with my audience in Pakistan, means I have been able to win hearts on both sides of the border.

"That, I think, is my greatest achievement and I want to continue to do that," said Meera whose smooch with costar Ashmit Patel in Bhatt's "Nazar" got her into trouble with fundamentalists in Pakistan and subsequently made headlines in India.

She was deported from Delhi airport for failing to produce the required papers and then dramatically recalled when the Bhatts intervened with the government.

Meera then, along with Bhatt, joined scores of peaceniks for a march along the India-Pakistan border.

Meera was here to promote her film "Nazar", along with the film's director Mahesh Bhatt and his wife Soni Razdan, who has also produced the film.

Dressed in a black salwar-kameez, teamed with a black fur-trimmed cape in the heat of a May afternoon in Delhi, Meera was the very picture of stardom. Diamond-studded sunglasses completed the actresses' look.

"I wanted to make history by working in a Bollywood film because never before has cinema in the two countries come together in such a big way. The producer is trying his best to get the government's permission to also release the film in Pakistan," Meera said.

Bhatt was all praises for Meera, especially about her dancing forte. "She is one of the best dancers I've worked with," said Bhatt. "She has great body language. You will find a uniqueness in her."

"This is a story of bar girls being brutally murdered by a crazy man who thinks that bar girls are the source of evil in society," Bhatt revealed.

"It's a film about man's primeval fears in an urban setup where two lonely characters come together. It's a whodunit with a supernatural angle."