REALITY cover girl
me the best platform as a newcomer. Dilwale
was like a dream come true, as it gave me an
opportunity to work with talented personalities
like Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, and
Rohit Shetty. Raabta opened me up as a person,
and as an actor. Just as I was getting typecast in
glam roles, I bagged Bareilly Ki Barfi. The film
opened up many more opportunities. Luka Chuppi
released recently, and now, I have three more
lined up. The last five years have been the best
of my life.Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale drew flak from the
audience. Is it harder to take in failure
when films as big as that doesn’t do as
well at the box office?
It’s more about perception because Dilwale was
my highest grossing film; for me, it did well.
A limited number of people watched Heropanti,
but that changed with Dilwale. For a newcomer
like me, the fact that I got a chance to be seen by
so many people, was a huge success in itself.Tell us your experience of working with
Shah Rukh Khan.
It was nervous and jittery in the beginning. In my
first scene, I had to yell at him, and I was thinking
to myself, how am I ever going to pull it off since
I admire him so much. But Shah Rukh sir is warm
and understanding, and befriends you in the first
five seconds. He is one of the most chivalrous
people I’ve ever come across. The fact that we are
both from Delhi helped!Which movie did you have the steepest
learning curve in?
I opened up as an actor in Raabta. I tried different
ways of doing a scene, and had to learn a number
of skills such as horse riding, chocolate making,
scuba diving (I am terrified of being under water),
and sword fighting. I’ve worked the hardest for
the film because the characters were layered, and
I knew I had to do justice to them.What roles are you most
comfortable with?
Any part that’s similar to my personality, like
the urban-Delhi-girl, comes naturally to me.
But when you do a film where you have to learn
a dialect, or you have to be somebody you’re
not, that’s when it gets exciting. I get drawn to
characters that make me question how I’m going
to pull it off.“SHAH RUKH SIR IS WARM
AND UNDERSTANDING,
AND BEFRIENDS YOU INTHE FIRST FIVE SECONDS.
HE IS ONE OF THE MOSTCHIVALROUS PEOPLE I’VE
EVER COME ACROSS. ”EMERALD GREEN EMBELLISHED BLAZER,`60,000,NAMRATA JOSHIPURA