MID-DAY (June 6, 2014)

Not many people get a chance to prove themselves in Bollywood; even fewer get a second chance. But Aackruti Nagpal is among the lucky few who belong to the latter category. When she was new in the industry, Aackruti was supposed to do a film opposite Shah Rukh Khan as Kajol’s sister — this was a plum role in Baazigar that was later essayed by Shilpa Shetty.

According to a source close to her, she was approached when she was shooting for Dev Anand’s film, Gangster (1994) at Mehboob Studio. “The secretary who conveyed the message to her manipulated her words and confused her. He advised Aackruti to stay away from a ‘behan ka role’ (the role of a sister) in order to avoid stereotyping. As a result, director Abbas Mastan and producer Ratan Jain had to look elsewhere.”

Later on, Aackruti bagged a role in the SRK-starrer Guddu (1995) but that didn’t amount to much. The then 18-year-old little girl is now making a comeback in the film, Holiday — A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, where she plays Akshay Kumar’s sister. “I have only compliments and praises for Akshay. He’s a fabulous human being and it is fun to work with him. Sonakshi Sinha is a kind person and I enjoyed working with her as well. I learned a lot from them,” says Aackruti.