Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 2, 2017)

Dussehra was a day of celebration for Patralekhaa in more ways than one. She is back on a movie set as "a chilled out" Abhay Deol's leading lady in the dark comedy Nanu Ki Jaanu. "Abhay was one of the reasons I came into cinema. I was still studying when I saw him in Anurag Kashyap's Dev D in 2009 and his portrayal was so real it was like a punch in the stomach. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be an actress," reminisces the actress who made her debut in the starkly gripping Citylights as the mother of an eight-year-old daughter at the age of 24.

The performance got her rave reviews but she recalls the disbelief on the face of a top filmmaker when he met her in person as he'd been expecting a 30-plus actress. So then, she took a 180-degree turn to play a character engaged in all kind of perverse mind games in Vikram Bhatt's erotic thriller. "I'm grateful that the same maker (Mahesh Bhatt) who had given Citylights thought I could play Ramona Raichand in Love Games. But halfway through the shoot, I realised that I was really uncomfortable playing this character," she says candidly.

She admits that today, when she looks back at that Patralekhaa, she wants to congratulate her. "I was once completely fearless. But today, I would think 10 times before playing a mother or doing a film like Love Games which was way out of my comfort zone. After three years, I know my parameters and only wish to be a part of exciting projects and quirky scripts like this after-life love story," he says.

This has been a defining year for Hindi cinema with smaller films like Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Hindi Medium, Shubh Mangal Savdahan making the cash registers ring. Patralekhaa couldn't be happier. "It's great for actors like me," she exults, her joy elevated because not only is steady date Rajkummar Rao in this hit list but his recently-released Newton is India's official entry for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category. "I watched Newton at the Berlin Film Festival where it got a standing ovation. My friends were always convinced this little big film had a life beyond Bollywood." How would she rate its chances of winning an Oscar? "With the right promotion and a little bit of luck, it can go the distance. It's not often that the Academy gets to see an Indian film that comes out of a forest and is a political satire on the world's biggest democracy," she avers.

Raj and she have always been open about their relationship, and after Citylights have gone on to not only feature in a web series, Bose, together, but are also being seen in some romantic commercials now. Patralekhaa points out that they make their career choices independent of the other. "We're both actors who love their job. And being from the same industry, we understand what the job entails. But at the end of the day, what keeps us together is not work but we are best friends," she signs off.