Anushka Sharma, who has done the most two-heroine projects, raps about what keeps her grounded and secure
Sneha Mahadevan (DNA; May 19, 2015)

Of the current crop of actresses, Anushka Sharma is one of the few actresses comfortable doing a two-heroine project. And repeatedly so. Her second film Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl was a four-heroine project. However, she admits she found co-star Parineeti Chopra’s role to be better than hers. “I am usually very secure as an actor. But I really wanted Parineeti’s role in LVRB and told Maneesh (Sharma, the director) that I want that role. He was all like ‘But that isn’t the lead role’. But I still said I want that role. He finally said that he couldn’t give me that role. But that’s how I think. Parineeti’s role was the best role in that film and I kept telling him ‘Mujhe woh hi chahiye’. So that’s how I look at things,” she explains.

She went on to work with Katrina Kaif in Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Priyanka Chopra in Dil Dhadakne Do. She explains her choices, “In DDD, my screen time may not be as much, but it’s the coolest part. It wasn’t something I’d done before. I knew the role was incredible and that Zoya would do a great job with it. In JTHJ, I thought my role was fabulous. It was great and I knew I could do something fun with it. I knew I had that security in that sense. No one is forcing me to do something. I am at a place in my life where I can say no to things. If you are taking it up with the willingness to do it, why would you have any insecurity?”

The actress, who is doing Karan Johar’s next Ae Dil Hai Mushkil with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, adds, “I am not one of those actresses who is going to bother about what she is wearing, how long will the other actresses’ role be, etc. I have no idea how many days each actor gives to a film and who is signing what. I don’t ask those kind of questions. It’s just too taxing. That information does nothing to me. I don’t need to know all that. I have faith in the director, faith in the project and most importantly faith in myself that I will be able to do a good job with the role. I am so focussed on doing my job correctly. Where is the time to sit and think what someone else is doing?”