While everybody who has watched Love Aaj Kal is raving about the innocent Punjabi girl Harleen who in real life is a Brazilian model named Giselle Monteiro who couldn’t even speak Hindi.

Director Imtiaz Ali says, “She is actually a Brazilian girl named Giselle Monteiro. Why a Brazilian girl to play an old-fashioned Punjabi girl? Well, I was auditioning girls from all over the country to play the Punjabi girl opposite the Sikh Saif. I couldn’t find the right girl to play the 1965 ki ‘gali mein rehne wali ladki, purane zamane ki’.”

“Giselle came to me through dress designer Anaita Shroff. She was to play Jo, Saif’s Caucasian girlfriend in the second half. She wasn’t right for Jo.I turned and looked at Giselle and realised she is Brazil’s Harleen.”

However Giselle completely had no idea about Bollywood dancing, Ali says, “We wanted to put her through the paces with Sarojji (choreographer Saroj Khan), but it never happened. Sarojji didn’t have the time. For a foreigner to get the Indian ‘adaa’ right is very tough.”