“I would only like to do roles of substance. I can’t be a heroine with two songs in my bag and be seen as eye candy,” says actor Swastika Mukherjee with grim determination in her voice.

Hailed as Tollywood’s new hope, Swastika, who already has a couple of hits — Criminal with reigning hero Prosenjit and Biresh Chaterjee’s Tobu Bhalobashi — in her basket, is looking forward to setting the screen afire with those that are under production. “I am working on two big films right now. There is Saathi Hara where I’m paired with Jeet. Then there is Nayak where I have a challenging role of a prostitute who is reformed,” she says.

Shooting round-the-clock, Swastika today can barely recount the time when she was an unambitious college student. “Today I am well entrenched in my career and cannot think of life beyond acting. Even a few years back if someone asked me what I wanted to do I would just say I’d continue studying and take each day at a time.”

Daughter of yesteryear hero Shantu Mukherjee, Swastika says the fact that her father was an actor never influenced her towards the profession. “Father was not keen that I join this profession. Even today, he doesn’t influence or coerce me in any direction. A non-interfering person, my father is not into the P.R business unlike others who are busy promoting their kids,” says the pretty green-eyed actor.

Swastika’s first brush with acting was in the film Hemanter Pakhi, where she had a blink-and-you-miss role. But the first real role came by when a college mate at Jadavpur University asked her to audition for his father’s serial Devdasi. “After that I got Ek Akasher Niche where my negative character received a lot of acclaim. Simultaneously I got a chance to be in Pratibimbo where I played a non-Bengali bride in a traditional Bengali family. Both the roles had tremendous scope and I got noticed,” she says.

Telefilm offers started pouring in and Swastika became a familiar face in the television industry. However when the film offers starting coming in she decided to retire from television for fear of over-exposure. “Film producers are petrified about a television heroine. Right now I’d like to concentrate on cinema and television has to take a back seat.”

Content with the way things have shaped out, Swastika says that acting has shown her a whole new world. “I was a shy person but acting has made me embrace the world.”