MUMBAI: In her eagerness to make a sequel of her starrer Shabri, Eesha Koppikar has donned the producer‘s hat. This is possibly the first time that an actress has turned producer to make a sequel of her earlier film.

In fact, the actress has already begun work on the sequel with director Lalit Marathe.

Says Koppikar, "The film should go on floors somewhere around April 2012 because till then, I‘ll be busy with a few shows and even Lalit needs time to work on the script since it has a lot of potential."

A Separation by Asghar Farhadi and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan has each received four APSA nominations. Both films are the Academy Award submissions for their respective countries in the category of Best Foreign Language Film for next year.

The move was a result of Shabri being stuck in production hassles for four years before it saw the light of the day recently.

According to the actress, Shabri was the most challenging film of her career and had the film been released on time and been promoted better, it could have been a trend-setter.

In Shabri, Koppikar played the role of a woman who runs a crime racket from a Mumbai chawl. She sported a non-glamorous look in the film and even spoke foul language.