Who inspired Nandini Rai's makeover?

Look at actress Nandini Rai and you will never imagine she could have been anything but glamorous.
But the Hyderabadi-born Sindhi, who will soon make her debut in Malayalam with director Sajeed’s Goodbye December, confesses she was once obese. “I have always been a foodie and in school, I was this podgy kid. But once I decided that I wanted to be an actress, I took a Uturn.I went on a strict diet; had just chapati and fruit juices and stayed away from carbs. It killed me to give up sweets, but I had to,” she says.
However, Nandini says, “Being chubby as a kid had its own advantages in my case. I was chosen to play the late actress Soundarya’s daughter in a film because of the way I looked then. In fact, it was the day I saw all the adulation that Soundarya received from the public that I decided I wanted to be an actor too.”
Two years of rigorous dieting, and Nandini, formerly known as Neelam Khourani, found herself winning beauty pageants, commercials and roles in films.
After a stint in Bollywood with Login and a Telugu film, Nandini seems upbeat about her Malayalam debut. “The best thing about the Malayalam film industry is that there are a lot of movies here which gives importance to female characters. That’s a welcome change from industries wherein the focus is entirely on the hero.”