Sarah Jane Dias is the heroine of Crooked

Abhishek Bachchan has found his match in former Miss India-Universe, Sarah Jane Dias. Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, after a hundred or so auditions, zeroed in on Sarah, the same lost-and-found childhood sweetheart of Saif Ali Khan in an ad that saw real love Kareena Kapoor too. Now, Sarah will be playing the lead opposite Abhishek in the film Crooked which will be shot in Greece.

“I had not gone for the audition for the main lead. But they liked me and asked me to audition for it,” blushed Sarah, who bowled Farhan and Ritesh with her performance and walked out with a three-film deal. “There were rumours that Aishwarya walked out of the film. That’s not true because we didn’t approach her, we were just thinking about the possibility,” informed Ritesh, who is happy with his new find. “There are three different phases which Sarah is going to be playing in the film. She’s got a terrific spark in her. Sarah’s fantastic,” said the producer about his actress who will be directed by Abhinay Deo.

Sarah’s from Muscat who came to Mumbai and became a VJ, then went on to be a model and won the Miss India contest in 2007. But then she disappeared from the scene. “People called me a loser. They criticised me for my weight gain. But what nobody knew was that I had become immobile due to an accident that damaged my knee. I couldn’t walk and so the weight gain. It was painful, but I didn’t give up,” said the girl, who is determined to prove all her critics wrong. “I’m taking diction classes from Shabana Azmi and learning the finer nuances of acting. I haven’t met Abhishek yet but we’ll most probably be doing a workshop together,” said Sarah, who is taking each step cautiously now.