New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) Punjabi actress Mahie Gill, who made her mark in Bollywood as Paro in Anurag Kashyap's 'Dev D', is on a high as her kitty is full of prestigious projects. However, the actress maintains that the road to success was not that easy.

'It is very difficult to create a place for yourself in the industry. I struggled my way through it. By chance Anurag saw me in a party and I got 'Dev D'; otherwise things wouldn't have shaped this way,' Mahie told IANS here.

Talking about her days of struggle, she said: 'When you dress up every morning, go for auditions and at the end of the day you don't get work, you feel bad. Sometimes you feel that you are better than the other person, still you don't get work. That's when you feel very frustrated. But one needs to be patient.'

The actress was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's-Cinefan Film Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.

Her next release is Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Paan Singh Tomar'. She teams up with Irrfan Khan in the film, which is scheduled for release in February next year.

Talking about 'Paan Singh Tomar', Mahie said: In this film, I am playing Paan Singh Tomar's wife. He was an athlete who later became a dacoit. His wife is still alive. She is very old now. I am playing a woman who is very talkative and short tempered.'

The actress had to darken her complexion for the role.

When asked about the experience of working with an actor like Irrfan, the 33-year-old said: 'It was great working with Irrfan. He is such a wonderful actor.'

As far as her future projects are concerned, she has signed two films to be made by Abhinav Kashyap. She is also doing Arbaaz Khan Productions' 'Dabang' and a Saurabh Shukla film, which is tentatively titled 'Bhaang'.

Mahie has also signed a film with Naseeruddin Shah called 'Surmai Shaam'. It will be helmed by debutant director Bhramanand Singh. Then there is action film 'Gulaab Gang' that also stars Tabu and Raveena Tandon.

After completing her masters in theatre, Mahie got her first break with Punjabi film 'Havaayen' and then did couple of more like 'Mitti Wajaan Maardi' and 'Chakk De Phatte'.

Asked if she would like to return to theatre, the actress said: 'I really want to do theatre. Right now I don't get the time to do that, but some day I will definitely do it. I will be meeting Naseeruddin Shah very soon; so maybe one day I happen to do theatre with him.'