A co-star on your wish list.
Robert Downey Jr! Anything up for grabs?
Back home, I want to work with several actors in Bollywood
and down south because I haven’t had a chance to. Among
directors, I have a huge aspiration to work with
Mani Ratnam.You have worked for
several illustrious
directors like Aniruddha
Roy Chowdhury, David
Dhawan, Sujoy Ghosh,
Shivam Nair, and Neeraj
Panday. How do you feed
off each director’s work
process?
I am a complete director’s
actor; I take that leap of faith
with them. I can jump off the
building if my director tells
me to, but he has to be the
wind beneath my wings. It
has worked well since most
of my directors have recast
me (laughs). I have a good
report card!How do you unwind at
the end of a long day?
I have a life beyond films.
My life has different
boxes—movies and acting
is one box, then there is my
wedding planning company
(The Wedding Factory), and
the badminton team (Pune
Seven Aces). My personal
life comprises my home,
family, sister, who stays with
me, and a set of friends who
have nothing to do with the
film world. All boxes are
important and run parallel
to each other.Who is the biggest
influence in your life?
My sister can influence my decisions and moods. If she says
something, it will hit me. There are few people who affect
me, and she tops that list.With social media being omnipresent, do you feel
pressured to keep up?
I don’t feel the pressure. I am an extrovert and tend to putup posts. I handle my accounts—Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter—as opposed to having a team for it. I want to keep
it personal because I want people to see the effort behind
each post. However, I don’t do too much; I have a life.
I remember someone had asked me once if I had Snapchat,
and I said, “No, I have a life!”Have you ever had to deal
with body shaming?
I haven’t had to deal with
it from others, but I am my
biggest body shamer. This
happened more in the initial
stages of my career, since
I was not prepared to enter
this industry; my body wasn’t
ready. Nobody ever told me
about losing weight but I was
ashamed because I had this
image of a perfect figure which
the magazines were portraying.
I reached closest to it in
Judwaa 2. From then on,
I know I have done it, so
I can move on!The entertainment
industry has been
struggling with gender-
based wage inequality for
a long time. What’s your
take on it?
We have to look at the
entertainment industry
as a business. Of course,
one day, I want actresses
to be paid equally for
shouldering the films. Till
date, my compensation
hasn’t been at par with my
male counterparts in many
movies for an equal part. But
in this business, your salary
is determined by the crowd
you attract in theatres. So the
day my film has a weekend
collection at par with a male
counterpart’s project, I will demand equal wage, and
I am sure I will get it. Until then, the industry has to work
together to ensure good films. For a long time, we have
lived in a predominantly male-dominated industry (and
content). It’s not going to change overnight, but we have to
be persistent, and not give up the thought. We have to
push boundaries.I have a life beyond
films. My life has different
boxes—movies and
acting is one box, then
there is my wedding
planning company, and the
badminton team.
HAIR AND MAKE UP: FRANCO VALLELONGA AND GUIA BIANCI; LOCATION COURTESY: LODHA WORLD TOWERS; STYLIST: PRACHITI PARAKH; STYLING INTERNS: RITIKA SHIRKE, SONAKSHI CHATURVEDI, JHARNA CHANDRA; SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MEETESH TANEJAA co-star on your wish list.
Robert Downey Jr! Anything up for grabs?
Back home, I want to work with several actors in Bollywood
and down south because I haven’t had a chance to. Among
directors, I have a huge aspiration to work with
Mani Ratnam.
You have worked for
several illustrious
directors like Aniruddha
Roy Chowdhury, David
Dhawan, Sujoy Ghosh,
Shivam Nair, and Neeraj
Panday. How do you feed
off each director’s work
process?
I am a complete director’s
actor; I take that leap of faith
with them. I can jump off the
building if my director tells
me to, but he has to be the
wind beneath my wings. It
has worked well since most
of my directors have recast
me (laughs). I have a good
report card!
How do you unwind at
the end of a long day?
I have a life beyond films.
My life has different
boxes—movies and acting
is one box, then there is my
wedding planning company
(The Wedding Factory), and
the badminton team (Pune
Seven Aces). My personal
life comprises my home,
family, sister, who stays with
me, and a set of friends who
have nothing to do with the
film world. All boxes are
important and run parallel
to each other.
Who is the biggest
influence in your life?
My sister can influence my decisionsandmoods.If shesays
something, it will hit me. There are few people who affect
me, and she tops that list.
With social media being omnipresent, do you feel
pressured to keep up?
I don’t feel the pressure. I am an extrovert and tend to put
up posts. I handle my accounts—Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter—as opposed to having a team for it. I want to keep
it personal because I want people to see the effort behind
each post. However, I don’t do too much; I have a life.
I remember someone had asked me once if I had Snapchat,
and I said, “No, I have a life!”Have you ever had to deal
with body shaming?
I haven’t had to deal with
it from others, but I am my
biggest body shamer. This
happened more in the initial
stages of my career, since
I was not prepared to enter
this industry; my body wasn’t
ready. Nobody ever told me
about losing weight but I was
ashamed because I had this
image of a perfect figure which
the magazines were portraying.
I reached closest to it in
Judwaa 2. From then on,
I know I have done it, so
I can move on!The entertainment
industry has been
struggling with gender-
based wage inequality for
a long time. What’s your
take on it?
We have to look at the
entertainment industry
as a business. Of course,
one day, I want actresses
to be paid equally for
shouldering the films. Till
date, my compensation
hasn’t been at par with my
male counterparts in many
movies for an equal part. But
in this business, your salary
is determined by the crowd
you attract in theatres. So the
day my film has a weekend
collection at par with a male
counterpart’sproject,I willdemand equal wage, and
I am sure I will get it. Until then, the industry has to work
together to ensure good films. For a long time, we have
lived in a predominantly male-dominated industry (and
content). It’s not going to change overnight, but we have to
be persistent, and not give up the thought. We have to
push boundaries.I have a life beyond
films. My life has different
boxes—movies and
acting is one box, then
there is my wedding
planning company, and the
badminton team.
HAIR AND MAKE UP: FRANCO VALLELONGA AND GUIA BIANCI; LOCATION COURTESY: LODHA WORLD TOWERS; STYLIST: PRACHITI PARAKH; STYLING INTERNS: RITIKA SHIRKE, SONAKSHI CHATURVEDI, JHARNA CHANDRA; SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MEETESH TANEJA