MID-DAY (August 7, 2017)

Her initial years in Bollywood saw her play the bubbly girl in films, but actor Anushka Sharma says she has now progressed in her career and moved beyond the extrovert kind of roles. The 29-year-old actor, who made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), says she realised after a while that she could no longer identify with such characters.

“I remember there was a time in my life when I did a lot of these extrovert kind of roles. But there was this phase when I got wondering... maybe because I was changing as a person, I realised I could not relate to these things anymore,” says Anushka.

The actor says this change confused people around her, who felt she had suddenly become a different person. “There were people around me, who had perhaps known me for a while like friends, industry people and journalists, they felt that there was something wrong with me. That suddenly I was different. But that’s the natural progression that you go through."

The actor, who has emerged as one of the top female stars in Bollywood within a short span of time, teamed up with Shah Rukh for the third time in the recent release, Jab Harry Met Sejal. The actor says while the pragmatic outlook of her character may appear like her real-life persona, Sejal was quite dissimilar to her and it took her a while to understand and approach the part.

Sharma says while there is a lot of discussion on-women’s rights and equality, she belongs to the generation, which is trying to seek freedom while being rooted. “Today, we talk about how women want to be treated in a certain way and rightfully so. At the same time, I feel that we, especially my generation, come from the protected family set- ups. And while we are working and getting educated, we are also the generation which is in the middle of protectiveness and at the same time, seeking that freedom.”