'I didn’t know I was sexy'

She���scurrently shooting for Mani Ratnam���s bilingual film Ravan/Ashokavanam, butit���s her appearance in an item number in Nagarjuna���s King that hasgot people talking about Priya Mani���s sexy looks.
Afterall, she���s who audiences found most interesting in the song sequence thatfeatured seven other beauties, including Trisha, Anushka, Genelia, MamthaMohandas, Charmee and Sneha Ullal.
Tell her that and she soundssurprised, ���Is it? I didn���t know I was sexy. I do put in a lot ofeffort to look good on screen. But yes, that statement has made myday.���
And if taking the glam route for a song wasn���tenough, Priya Mani has taken the sex quotient a step further by wearing aswimsuit in her next film, Drona. The film sees the National Award-winningactress pairing up with Nitin, who has had a spate of flops recently. Is theswimsuit a part of trying to give Nitin���s career a much-needed boost?���One swimsuit sequence cannot ensure a hit. The scene is in a dream songand I had to jump into a pool. Obviously, I can���t jump into water wearinga saree,��� she says.
Ask her about working with Mani Ratnam andshe���s all excited. ���It���s been great. I just started shootingtwo days ago in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, in misty weather. I���m lucky towork with Mani sir at an early stage in my career. It���s everyactor���s dream and I am living it,��� she says.
And thoughshe hasn���t met Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, she���s happy to have metAbhishek Bachchan and Vikram. ���I���m sharing screen space withestablished actors and consider that a big achievement,��� she says.
InAshokavanam, she also co-stars with Prithviraj. The duo has already workedtogether in several movies and rumour mills have been on overdrive about the twobeing more than just co-stars. ���There���s nothing brewing between us.He was my first Malayalam co-star. Our association dates back to well over 5-6years. And my mother and his mother are batchmates,��� Priyaclarifies.
And given her busy schedule, it seems unlikely that shehas time for romance. Her call sheets are so packed that Priya doesn���teven have time to do a Kannada movie, she asserts. ���I have a couple ofTamil films and Telugu films slated for release in the coming months and wasshooting for them. And I hope that 2009 will be as good for me as 2008 was. Imay even do a Kannada movie. But not now; I just don���t have thetime,��� she signs off.