Shenaz Treasury — that’s what she calls herself these days — is a hippie at heart.

Her “itchy feet” took her away from B-town after the 2006 dud Umar. “This is the second break I took from the biz and I went back to school. I like working hard for a couple of years and then taking off for a while. I travel, live, pursue my interests, work in other countries and then, when I miss home, I fly back, work here and then take off again,” says Shenaz.

She has this uncanny knack of landing roles when she’s busy partying. It happened with her debut Ishq Vishq. History repeated itself with Aage Se Right, in which she plays a singer in a dance bar who falls in love with Kay Kay Menon.

“The head of the production house of Aage... walked up to me at a disc and said he’d been looking for me and was convinced I’d be perfect for this character. They’d been trying to reach me for a while. Since I went abroad, nobody knew how to get in touch with me. The next day, he sent me the script, and it was hilarious. A week later, I was shooting,” reveals Shenaz.

Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly (DB) also happened by chance. The role was initially offered to Chitrangada Singh. “I don’t know about Chitrangada. All I know is they were auditioning for the role of Sonia for over a year and couldn’t find the right actor. Someone from the production house saw me on the street and called me in to test for Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat. I went in and auditioned. That night when Kiran showed my audition to Aamir, he asked if I could audition for DB. I did, and a week later I was offered the role,” shares Shenaz.

She plays an air hostess and Imran Khan’s girlfriend in DB. “My character is terribly proper — one of those girls who has every hair in place, dressed perfectly and always says the right thing, extremely unlike the real me. As they say only in our country — ‘bang opposite’,” laughs Shenaz.

As for reports of intimate scenes between Imran and her and the film containing a barrage of expletives, she says, “There’s so much nonsense talk about DB. It’s a comedy; it isn’t what you guys think. No profanity from my dainty little mouth.”
Before DB, she’s got Radio with Himesh Reshammiya coming up. “I love acting, I have a talent and want to give it my all. I want nothing more than to be a working actor. I’ll see what happens after these three films,” she maintains. If they click, she’ll buy a bigger car. “If they don’t, I’ll sell the small car I drive and walk. That’s best for the environment. My image-conscious friends keep asking me how I can pull up at premieres and big parties in a self-driven car. I tell them I don’t care about people who judge me by my car,” she smiles.