Earlier this month Kangana Ranaut picked up her first Best Actress Award for her Queen act. It was home-delivered by Rekha since she wasn't at the Filmfare soiree. Having announced that she didn't believe in awards, she'd opted to attend a party for Padma awardees Rajat Sharma and Prasoon Joshi where she was clicked with Aamir Khan “enjoying poetry instead of banging my head to music I don't understand“. She admits she wasn't expecting to win in absentia and recalls being promised an award for Krrish 3 if she “showed up“. Kangana who was in school in New York at the time, chose not to show up.

After bagging the black lady will she attend the next few award functions now? “You're awarding a performance not a person so it's disrespectful to make attendance a pre-condition. My Queen cinematographer, Bobby Singh, is no longer in this world, but his work deserves to be acknowledged posthumously,“ she asserts, pointing out that she could be shooting or unwell on that day. “But that shouldn't stop anyone from recognising my performance.“

Queen told the story of Rani, ditched on the eve of her wedding by her fiancé. A trip to Europe turns into a journey of self-discovery and emancipation. The journey continues with Nikhil Advani's Katti Batti. The challenge then was to play a character who is so introverted she couldn't look anyone in the eye. The upcoming film too has thrown her a curveball with its non-linear narrative.

Having finished a course in screenplay writing in New York, she explains that Payal's character doesn't follow the regular graph: “In one scene you see her in her late 20s, in the next she's back in her teens followed by a song in her early 20s. For most films I decide in one narration if I want to do it. In this case I had a narration every other day because every scene is like a mini-film.“

On the surface, the film is a love story between a middle-class boy and a rich, bohemian girl. “But as the story unfolds, Payal throws you off. You wonder if she really loves Maddy or is taking him on a ride. The journey of these two starts off on a lighter note but gets deeper emotionally,“ she says.

Quiz her on co-star Imran Khan and she breaks into raptures over the Mumbai boy, born in the US and brought up in UK. “In many ways he's like me... Naïve, straightforward and sometimes a little unsure during a scene. After working with actors who scream on the sets, can't mind their language and run down other actresses in front of me, making me wonder if they do the same behind my back, gentlemanly Imran is a welcome relief,“ she smiles.

A complete contrast to Reema Kagti's Mr Chaalu. What's happening to the film after Saif Ali Khan's exit? “I'm not the right person to answer that,“ she retorts, adding that she'll use the time to learn editing in New York, the last of the courses that will help her work with her technicians when she makes her directorial debut, instead of shouting incomprehensible orders on the sets.

In 2011, she directed a nine-minute short, The Touch. It revolved around a five-year-old with healing powers and Kangana admits it was a revelation to work with a disciplined crew which respected not just adult actors but also the child, maybe more so. “We had to make allowances for his travel, sleep and mealtimes. Which meant we got him for only three hours in an eight-hour shift. And then if he didn't want to shoot, we had to let him go,“ she reminisces.

In contrast, Bollywood was full of actors reporting late, with scant respect for their craft or co-stars. “I started at 17 and I've gone through hell. That's why people matter more than scripts today. I'd rather work with Aanandji (Aanand L Rai, director of Tanu Weds Manu 2) and Nikhil who pampers me silly. I enjoy the attention. I've told them that if they're directing I have to be in the film,“ she laughs.

And what about Sujoy Ghosh, who's returned to her with the cinematic adaptation of The Devotion of Suspect X after she walked out of his Durga Rani Singh over creative differences? “Yes, Suspect X is one of the films I'm considering. Sujoy and I never had any differences. He texted me asking why I wasn't going for the Filmfare Awards given that it was my year. I told him every year is my year. Queen is just the beginning,“ she beams.

She admits she's had flops after Queen and projects that failed to take off. “Yet, I continue to be get offers. People are actually praying to work with me. And I continue to win awards even in absentia so Sujoy can do a celebratory jig,“ she says. “People like him, Anandji and Nikhil who love and respect me and have made this journey memorable.“