WHY am I being made to walk on the set?” thunders Amrita Rao as she enters a reality show set where she is promoting her next, Love U... Mr. Kalakaar. Her objection is that a seating arrangement was not made for her within a few feet of the set’s entrance. The shoot has been delayed by two hours and her complaint is the last thing on the mind of the show’s crew — Rao had already taken close to four hours to get ready.

The actress will be seen on the big screen today, after a gap of two years. “The gap between my last film, Shortkut — The Con Is On in 2009, and Love U... Mr. Kalakaar isn’t intentional. Due to the recession in 2009, two of my films got shelved,” she explains. Once a promising artiste, Rao’s career, however, has never been a steady one. After her debut in Ab Ke Baras (2002), the actress followed it up with Ishq Vishk (2003). Her role opposite Shahid Kapoor as a sweet, simple girl who loses out to popular girls in college, brought her the coveted attention.

The roles that she chose next only strengthened that image. But most of films, barring Farah Khan’s Main Hoon Na (2004), were barely noticed. In 2006, she returned with Kapoor in Rajshri Productions’ Vivaah, which revived the careers of both the actors. While Kapoor as well as the industry have moved on since, the 29-year-old seems trapped in her sweet-girl image. The industry has been overtaken by her contemporaries and newcomers, such as Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone. Even Vidya Balan, who used to enjoy an image similar to Rao’s, has reinvented herself with more challenging roles, becoming one of the more sought-after actresses.