Lekha Washington to break hearts

Have you ever heard of a girl getting a big break in Bollywood simply because she's a sportsperson? Well, that's exactly what happened with Lekha Washington. This Chennai-born actor was selected after a rigorous screening of 1,000 girls to be the heroine opposite Rajeev Khandelwal in his next film Peter Gaya Kaam Se because she's been a footballer.

"We had been looking for a sportsperson for this role. The typical delicate heroines would not do for us simply because of the fact this role requires the girl to be a sportswoman," said a source in the production team.

The name of the character in the film is Mira and according to the script she is required to be a "cold hearted" character and somebody who does things that nobody else does. And because Lekha has been a footballer before, she made the cut.

 "The producers (UTV Spotboy) needed someone who would be required to play football, ride a bike, look like a super model, do martial arts, and be every thing from cold-hearted to the girl-next-door, and all this while being an Anglo Indian. Now this was quite an odd combination you see. And Lekha fitted the bill perfectly," the source added.

With a mix of Burmese, Italian, Punjabi, Maharashtrian and a Telegu heritage, Lekha Washington was last seen anchoring the IPL matches with Ajay Jadeja. The lass won wide praise for her role in the Telugu film Jeyam Kondaan (2008) which starred Vinay and which ran for over a 100 days. An adventure sports addict, she has also hosted travel shows around the world, and been an active theatre enthusiast for much of the last eight years, directing her theatre group Khel.