Oh God! Not another Punjabi pop album! And that too from Shyam Benegal's favourite actress?

And since everyone else had the audacity to go in to an album-cutting frenzy, she too decided to take the plunge?

"I know I'm not a great singer -- I cannot ever become a Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhonsle. But I've tried my very best to bring something special to each song and give it an individual character like I'd do while acting."

Okay but why Punjabi folk?

The most obvious reason: she belongs to that region. "I've been singing `Hulle Hulla Re' since childhood. The only difference is we got the lyrics changed to give it a strong storyline. Similarly, `Aaja re aaja' is based on the challa while all the other songs are seeped in Punjabi folk."

Admit it, she did get egged on by the 957-oddBhangra-pop-folk albums that have hit the market?

Yes. But she approached it "differently". "I felt I had a greater responsibility because I'd already acquired a certain reputation as an actress. But I also believe it's best not to limit oneself -- there's nothing like `cannot'."

That's she's amply proved, isn't it?

True, true. From delivering a powerhouse performance in Benegal's Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda to winning the National Award for best supporting actress for Sardari Begum to acting in Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha -- she's done it all. In fact, Rajeshwari picked up the Maharashtra State best actress award with her very first film, Aytya Gharat Gharoba. "When you work with good directors, they never tell you what to do -- they let you bloom on your own and are always ready to answer questions. That helps you grow."

And walk away with National Awards...

Actually everyone thought this delicate, fragile-looking actress would bag the prizewith Suraj... but that was not to be. "When I actually got a call in the middle of the night saying I'd won for Sardari Begum, I didn't believe it."

What about commercial films?

First, there's no such thing as commercial and non-commercial cinema. "Anything that makes money is commercial, which most of my films have done. Like Sardari Begum and Suraj..."

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Strangely enough, her first ever masala release, English Babu Desi Mem, lost money. The fact that she got to work with Shah Rukh Khan doesn't stop Rajeshwari from dismissing it as a bad dream.

"It was the worst script of the century. So dumb, that I would have been very surprised if it had done well."

Does she have a thing against mainstream masala movies?

Not at all. "Even a masala film that's totally illogical but made with conviction, works -- like Aankhen. But not something like Major Saab where all Amitabh Bachchan needs to do is blow awhistle to summon the guards at the NDA, and yet he unnecessarily resorts to jumping walls all the time."

What next?

There's Benegal's Samar that's ready for release. "It's a film about the dalit problem. We shot for a straight 24 days in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh, and such was the camaraderie amongst us -- Rajit Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Kishore Kadam and Raghuvir Yadav -- that none of us wanted to come back." And then she has Jagmohan Mundhra's Perfumed Garden.

Wait a minute, Jag Mundhra, did you say?

"Yes, I knew you'd say that, and frankly I was also apprehensive at the outset, though I hadn't seen any of his films. It was just his reputation. But he assured me that there wouldn't be any unnecessary exposure."

And she took his word for it?

Kind of. "I went to Mr Benegal for a second opinion. And he told me to trust the man and said I'd enjoy working with him."

And later she can say that a body double was used for the rain-drenchedscenes?

"Look, I'm not here to prove anything to anyone. I just do my work, go home and sleep." Even if that means closing one's eyes to the realities of a Mundhra chick flick.