From ‘Fugly’ to ‘Bhool Bhulaiya 2’, your 8-year film career is illustrious and an inspiration to other actors. How do you see yourself looking back?
One of the mantras that has been there for me was never to give up. There were many failures in my journey, especially in the beginning. It was a difficult time, hardly anyone thought that I would be able to make a comeback. A lot of people thought Dhoni was my first film. People didn’t even know that I had done Fugly because people didn’t see that film, but I am happy that I believed in myself that I can do it. I have that thing and I will do it. I have never held anything to give up in my mind and heart. I would like to tell other actors also that do not live in fear that if a film does not work, it will not work in future. If you see the career of even the most successful person, then such weak moments will come in everyone’s life. If someone doesn’t come early, they will come later, but it is possible to recover and bounce back. A good film is a good film and a good actor is a good actor. No one can take this from you. If you are a good actor, then all the mediums that are there today, OTT, theatre, film, web series, you will definitely get work.
Where would you like to turn your filmography in the next decade of your career? What kind of films would you like to do?
I would like to reinvent myself. I want to try new genre. I want to do something that people don’t expect from me. I think I am at that stage of my career when I have that hunger to challenge myself. Eight years ago my film choices were probably something else, now there are a few more, there will be more in the future. Along with experience, you also get some confidence, so if you want to take risk also, then see what I would like to do in the next ten years.
‘Bhool Bhulaiya 2’, ‘Jug Jug Jio’, ‘Govinda Naam Mera’, all three of your upcoming films are light-hearted entertainment films. What was the reason for choosing such films?
This timing is great. Theaters have just started back, so we want to bring such films which you can watch with family and all these three films are family entertainer films. These movies are made only for the big screen so that we can enjoy our weekend by watching these movies while eating popcorn. I became an actress this way, because when I was young, we used to wait for which film is coming on Friday. I have been a complete film kid. I had a film worm and I loved watching movies. This is the only outing in India that we go to watch movies on weekends and these three films are going to spread happiness that you will come, laugh, entertain, take something.
These days, Hindi films are not playing as much in theaters, while South’s films are showing dominance. You yourself are also doing the film RC 15 with Ram Charan. How are you seeing this change?
I feel like we have seen so many good films on OTT in these two years of covid, people’s test has been a bit different, but theater is the medium that brings everyone together. I think the films that are running in the theatres, are running because they are on a bigger canvas, but the emotion is universal. You can watch these movies with children, elders, everyone and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Jug Jug Jio, Govinda Naam Mera, all three of my films are such that will give a feeling of community watching. You’ll have fun when you see them with people. As far as South films are concerned, I did my first South film in 2018. Everyone is doing it now because they are running, but even when I did, I thought language should not be a barrier. I am shooting a pan India film with Shankar sir and Ram Charan, but when we are on the sets, we never feel that the heroine is from the Hindi belt, the hero is from the Telugu belt, the director is from the Tamil belt. We feel that we are all Indians and making Indian films and this is a film that everyone can watch together. The fun of theaters is to watch together, laugh and feel together.
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ was a memorable film. What do you remember about that film? And in what ways is it special for you to be a part of this franchise?
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ was the first horror film I saw. I don’t watch horror movies. I feel very scared but in this film I felt that it is scary but also funny. Seeing this it will not happen that I will be scared at night, I will not be able to sleep at night. I really enjoyed watching this film. Then when I was offered ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, I really liked this story in the narration itself. This is such a film, which even children can watch, otherwise the horror genre sometimes becomes too much for children, but you can show this film to children too. This is the longest film of my life. We started shooting in 2019, so two and a half years of my life have gone into shooting for it.
There are many advantages of being an actor, while there are also some disadvantages that your personal life is also discussed a lot. Like, in the past, there were also news of your makeup, breakup. How do you handle it?
I had already decided that I will never talk about my personal life and I have never commented on it. People keep writing whatever they want, I am not going to say yes or no to anyone, because that is the only place, which is my personal and private. However, there is also a negative side to this that when you remain silent, people keep on writing whatever comes to mind. However, even if you speak, you will write, so I think speaking will not make much difference but it feels bad at all. I am human too. I also wonder why are you writing? What is needed? And most of the time, all that is not even true, so you just have to ignore it and move on, there is more work in life, so if you keep focusing on such things, which are not even true, then you will go crazy. So I try not to focus too much on these things.