There are no pink walls, big archways or winding stairways that frequent for instance Karan Johar's films. Instead, the living room is neat, subtle, with plenty of wood. And plenty of awards on shelves and cabinets.

These aren't the only awards she has, she grins. There are many more at her apartment in San Francisco where she lives currently after her marriage.

Sharmishtha (inset), of course, works with the best in the industry, her favourite director being Karan Johar.

"I like working in big-scale ventures, like Karan," she says. "That's one of the things we have in common. Like, for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, he asked me to shop in New York. He didn't want the props to look like they were from here."

Image: Abhishek Bachchan in a scene from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Note the minimalist decor to go with the sombre mood of the scene.