The bubbly, effervescent Genelia said, “I owe a lot to southern cinema and today I’m on the verge of creating history as I will be the first actress to do the same role in three different languages. I played Hasini in Bommarillu (Telugu) and Santosh Subramaniam (Tamil) and now I’m playing Pooja Saxena in the Hindi remake, It’s My Life with Hurman Baweja in the lead and directed by Aneez Bazmee.”

The girl-next-door image has worked wonders for her and she’s proud of it. She has bagged a record number of endorsement deals, because of what ad agencies call, her ‘vibrant youth image’. Now, the cute and petite Genelia has replaced Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta as brand ambassadors for a few products.

The 21-year-old lass feel that she is exuberant and forthright in her approach to life, which has been extended to the screen. The actress says, “Yes to a certain extent Aditi of JTYJN and Hasini are similar in nature as they have freshness, youth and energy and the characters are just like me in real life. But now, I want to do roles that I have not done before, something more challenging.”

Genelia has three Hindi films releasing this year — It’s my life, Life Partner and Hook Ya Crook. Also, she is on the verge of signing a film with a big hero. Recently she did a Telugu film, Krishna Vamsi’s Sasirekha Parinayam, as a woman who fights against dowry system and did the role without any makeup. When asked whether she would be doing any more south movies, she signs of saying, “Why not? I’m very proud of my south Indian films, as it was here that I got to hone my skills. I will be doing a Telugu film Katha, later this year. I’m open to good roles in Tamil too.”

JAANE TU girl has also revealed her secret crush to us and mind you, it's not Imran Khan or the man she's been linked up with for long time- Riteish Deshmukh. It's none other than our good old John Abraham with whom she's currently doing a film. She says she's been a fan of the actor for a while now and it was almost like a dream come true for her when she found herself sharing screen space with him in her next film, HOOK YA CROOK. She admits it's a crush, which probably dates back to her college days when John attended the college fete.

She has no problems about being cast in girl next-door mould and is open to challenge of doing an all out commercial film or even action movies. She might not be an overnight sensation but she's counting her blessing and happily doing her own thing. Genie baby has claimed to be different, thus far...