Born and brought up in Delhi, she has been an actor-teacher in National School of Drama's Theatre in Education Company for three years. Roles in a dozen teleplays and teleserials make hers a familiar face indeed: she's seen in Sailaab, Mast Mast Hai Zindagi and Geet Gaata Chal (all on Zee TV) and Gaatha, Kabhie Kabhie, Virudh and Deewar (on Star Plus). She has worked with the likes of Amal Allana, Ebrahim Alkazi, Ramesh Sippy, Mahesh Bhatt, B.V. Karanth, and others.

It is her commitment to children and her love for theatre as a medium that has brought her to the city despite her hectic shooting schedules. She explains: "When an adult enrolls in an art-and-theatre class, he has preconceived notions about the medium he has chosen. With formed opinions and impressions he is affected by what he sees around him, and as a result his work tends to be an imitation. In contrast, children come with an open mind; they are as original as they can get and a joy to work with. With their nimble fingers and unleashed imagination, they set their work on fire.''

A couple hours after she got off the Shatabdi today she was getting her young pupils loosen up and ready to experiment. Her workshop is highly flexible which may culminate in a play or production ... "probably on the school or classroom situation". She describes it as "a celebration of being alive and being a child wholistically."

Vani made her debut in Hindi films with Dushman in which she plays the anti-hero's girl, Sunanda, but earlier she acted in an Italian film, Omero, directed by Fabio Carpi, which featured at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. "Working in films is fine," she says, "but it's theatre which keeps you alive as an actor." Her idol? "Naseeruddin Shah ... he keeps in touch with theatre and works on at least two theatre productions every year."

Vani feels she has to be channelised to perform. The industry, according to her is "in an interesting phase and newcomers like me and others from the NSD are getting plenty of opportunity to perform."

Vani got her introduction to the stage when she was eight. She has so far acted in ten plays, both western and Indian, and given a solo performance at Bombay's Prithvi Theatre. She counts her role in the ancient Greek tragedy Electra as "my very best to date; that part got under my skin and stayed there for a good six months. Believe in what you are doing and it will have an impact on your character." Vani finds Aamir Khan, a complete actor since "he really works on his character". Smita Patil is her all-time favourite actress. As for Madhuri Dixit ... "terrific"; Sri Devi ... "a great actress" and Juhi ... `lively and natural". Among theatre personalities, she praises Aashish Vidyarthi and Manoj Bajpai. On the difference between film and theatre actors, she feels that theatre provides "a slower climb but it is more solid. The theatre actor matures over time and is unlikely to have his head turned by glamour. I certainly wouldn't want the glamour-doll image."

Her future projects include the NFDC production, Disha, in which she is working with Zora Sehgal and Zakir Hussain. Having worked with well known directors and writers, she is also got down to writing concepts for films and teleserials.