Preetika Rao - does her last name sound familiar to you? The younger sister of Bollywood actress Amrita Rao has made her television debut with Colors’ Beintehaa (Fortune Productions). At this juncture, one cannot help but notice the similarities between the sisters. Hence, when we first met the actress we told her that she sounded exactly like her elder sister and she begged to disagree, “She has a better voice than me. In fact, I avoid smiling and she has a Madhuri Dixit million dollar smile.” When asked if her sister has inspired her and she promptly replied, “I have grown up watching her. She has been in this industry for 12 years. She is a much better actor. Her passion for cinema is far more. I have deviated and have done modelling, south films, journalism and now I am here making my debut on TV. Amrita on the other hand has been focused. She is born for the career, so yes I am definitely inspired by her.” Wow! Looks like the new girl in the telly-world can’t stop praising her sister. We later asked her what prompted her to pick up the television offer Beintehaa to which she said, “I had gone to the US after taking a break from the south movies. But when I got back, I had an influx of TV offers. So, I thought why not? Suddenly TV industry has become very glamorous with the Bollywood biggies being a part of it. Hence, I met some producers and auditioned for few challenging roles. I was selected for four shows but then I selected this one. Beintehaa happened at a time where everything was set- the telecast date, time, set up, it was all perfect and I loved the story. So I immediately said a ‘yes’.” On her character in Beintehaa, she stated, “I play Aaliya a girl from Bhopal, she is a bit tomboyish. She and Zain (Harshad Arora) are cousins but they do not get along since childhood. But the situations are such that she ends up marrying him. Then the drama unfolds.” On her preparation for this character, Preetika averred, “I incidentally used to watch Pakistani shows and I love them. Their Urdu’s much better than ours. So I was familiar with the language. I feel Indian television is deprived of Muslim drama. It’s ruled and dominated by Hindi, Gujarati and Rajasthani shows. So, when I heard this story I told Farhanji (Salaruddin) that the best part about this story is that it has a Muslim background.” Is Preetika anywhere close to Aaliya? “My life does not have so much of drama. I am very sorted and composed,” clarified the actress. On the tips she has got from her star-sister, the actress explained, “Amrita is not familiar with the television industry though she had judged Perfect Bride before. But with her decade long career I have learnt a lot and trust me, TV is tough. In the last 48 hours I have slept for 8 hours.” Having said this, it looks like all the hard work has already paid off as the actress’ mother is pretty happy about her being a part of a Colors show. “My entire family loves the fact that I am on TV. They are excited to see the hoardings outside. Especially, my mom loves Colors. She is happy that I am debuting with her favourite channel.” Preetika, we hope you do wonders for yourself on the small screen.