Emmerdale’s Gemma Atkinson reveals all about her rise to Bollywood fame
Actress was offered lead role in the Indian thriller after the director saw one of her sexy mag shoots
SHE grew up in a mill town, rose to fame on teen soap Hollyoaks and loves sharing a bed with her pet dogs.
Now Emmerdale star Gemma Atkinson has left her roots behind and headed to the dazzling world of Bollywood.
The Bury lass, who has also enjoyed a successful career as a glamour model for lingerie, swimwear and lads’ mags, is about to become Asia’s latest acting sensation.
She makes her Bollywood debut in suspense thriller Fever, which is out this week.
Gemma was picked to play the lead role Rhea Wagner by director Rajeev Jhaveri, after he saw one of her sexy magazine shoots.
She has been catapulted into the Bollywood world of glitz and glamour where actors can earn up to £6million a film.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, 31-year-old Gemma reveals she is hoping to land more roles, despite early struggles over delivering her lines in Hindi.
She said: “I never i thought I’d be asked to star in a Bollywood film.
“The director had seen magazine images of me and he thought I suited the part.
“They needed an English girl for the role and he liked my look.
“I didn’t realise the scale of it until I got there and saw how hard they work.
“You hear people say the industry is bigger than Hollywood and it’s huge. I couldn’t believe the enormity of it.
“It was an incredible experience and I’d definitely love to work more in Bollywood — if the script was great and the chance came around.”
Before stepping on set, Gemma had training in Hindi so she could better understand her scenes.
Indian actor Yusuf Sultan was recruited to translate her script into English and teach her the dialogue.
She said: “I was under the most pressure I have ever been. It was a fear of failing as it was my first Bollywood film.”
Part of Fever was filmed in Switzerland and Gemma was on her own most of the time with only a Hindi-speaking crew.
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She said: “They got me a tutor who lived in Bradford and he came over every day for three weeks before shooting began.
“They did send a script in English but reading Hindi is different to hearing someone speak it.
“It was really difficult to grasp what was going on. There were times when I got really worked up and I said to my mum, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this’.
“She was like, ‘Just go and chill and ring me back in ten minutes when Gemma’s back’. So I rung her back and I was like, ‘You’re right, I will do it. It will be OK’.
“But it was nerve-racking.” Gemma started out as a teen model, earning up to £10,000 a photoshoot.
At 16 she found fame on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, where she played Lisa Hunter for four years.
That was followed by BBC drama Casualty and a 2007 appearance on ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity.
She also hit the headlines after a fling with football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and was once engaged to ex- Premier League striker Marcus Bent.
Last month Gemma revealed she and boyfriend Olly Foster, a fitness trainer, had split after two years.
Today, Gemma is best known as Carly Hope in Emmerdale. And while she describes shooting soaps as an “endless cycle”, she was shocked by working hours in Bollywood, which has overtaken Hollywood to become the world’s largest film industry.
Filming would begin at 5am and would not wrap until the lack of sunlight made it impossible to shoot any more scenes.
Gemma said: “It’s lucrative and it is great financially but you can see why when you’re involved in it.”
In Fever she stars alongside Indian actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who plays a contract killer who has lost his memory in an accident.
Dales v Delhi
LANDMARK: The Woolpack vs Taj Mahal
WHAT THEY EAT: Marlon's shepherd's pie vs Madhur Jaffrey's chicken tikka
WHO THEY ARE: The Dingles, the Sugdens and the Tates vs The Kapoors, the Bhatts and the Jhaveris
WHAT THEY WEAR: Wellies and gilets vs saris and bindis
WHAT THEY DRIVE: Tractor vs tuk-tuk
They have an on-screen romance and share several raunchy moments — for which she wore a bodysuit. One encounter involves an intimate shower scene.
Fitness fan Gemma is up at 4am most days to hit the gym before heading to ITV’s Emmerdale studios. She oined the soap last year and accepts Bollywood is a world away from the laid-back Yorkshire Dales.
The industry’s stars are renowned for having costly entourages including make-up artists, hair stylists, bodyguards and chefs.
So bosses were stunned when Gemma turned up and demanded no special treatment.
She said: “It was funny when I arrived at the airport.
“They were saying, ‘Where’s your entourage? Where’s your hair and make-up team? Where’s your PA?’
“I was like, ‘It’s just me — I’m here to shoot.’
They found it strange I was on my own and they found it odd that between takes I didn’t need to sit down.
“I was all right standing up. Most of them would have a guy who’d come and put a chair underneath them every time they cut.
“They were also shocked I didn’t need to go to the front of the queue for food.
“I think they take offence if you don’t go along with it as they’re doing their job.
“But I’ve just not been brought up to ever expect anything more or less than anyone else.
“I’d much rather be having a pyjama night with my friends or in my trackies cuddled up with my two dogs than dressed to the nines and getting special treatment.”
With Gemma’s stock rising, she has even been tipped as a potential Bond girl. But the actress admits that her real dream would be to follow in the footsteps of Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.
She said: “What I’d rather do instead of Bond Girl is be more of a Tomb Raider-type action girl.
“Something like that would suit me I think, or Angelina Jolie’s character in Salt. “I’d prefer that than a Bond girl.
“I wouldn’t have to wear as many dresses and heels.”
Forget dresses and heels, it will be saris and bindis for the time being.