Kiara Advani has been dressing up and dancing in front of a mirror since she was a child and now has five aces in Bollywood
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 4, 2019)

When she watched Arjun Reddy, Kiara Advani had no inkling she’d be playing the female lead in its Hindi remake, Kabir Singh. But Sandeep Vanga who had also directed the original, was impressed with her performance in the Telugu political drama, Bharat Ane Nenu, and decided she was his Preeti. This came as a surprise to the actress. “Preeti’s contained, speaks very little but her silence resonates. My brief however was not to let the audience know what she’s thinking as she needed to have a touch of intrigue. In contrast, I’m animated, keep cracking up and talk a lot when nervous,” she points out.

It’s an emotionally-charged film, with Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir, jilted by her Preeti, going down the self-destructive path and the actress admits she’d be drained by the time she reached home. “It was a cathartic experience,” she smiles, rationalising that while Kabir is stubborn and chauvinistic with anger management issues, there are men like that for real. “Yes, girls love bad boys but we are not glorifying anyone. Kabir is a flawed character and not representing every man.”

Mention Shahid and Kiara’s face lights up saying he’s a favourite because it’s all about collaboration with him. “The film is a love story and it was important for us to be on the same page and feed off each other’s energies,” she explains, recalling how Shahid who’d become a father for the second time during the shoot, looked after everyone on the set.

Talking of co-stars, her next two films are with Akshay Kumar who launched her in Bollywood with the 2014 Fugly. “Life’s come a full circle. There’s so much to learn from him, he’s so disciplined,” she moons but clams up when prodded on Good News and Laxmmi Bomb and Indoo Ki Jawani saying it’s too early to speak about them. She’s however gungho about the Vikram Batra biopic, Shershaah, with Sidharth Malhotra, whose first schedule she recently wrapped up in Palampur and Chandigarh. “It’s a beautiful script which moved me to tears and I knew immediately that I wanted to play Dimple whom I recently met,” says the girl who is still friends with Sakshi Dhoni whom she played in the Dhoni biopic. “It’s been five years but people think I’m a newcomer. I am lucky that I still look fresh on screen.”

While Kiara keeps referring to herself as an “outsider”, her Wikipedia page lists Ashok Kumar as her step great-grandfather, Saeed Jaffrey as great granduncle and Juhi Chawla as her aunt. With a laugh, Kiara clarifies that Juhi is a friend of her parents and while she is related to the other two legends, she was very young when they passed away. “It was only during Fugly’s promotions that I learnt about their contributions to cinema.”

So, with no filmi connections, was it difficult getting films after Fugly? “I wasn’t flooded with offers but M S Dhoni - The Untold Story made me a household name and though Machine didn’t work, the recreated version of 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast' became popular and even today, in small towns, people recognise me by it,” she exults, adding that she did Machine for the experience of working with Abbas-Mustan. Ditto the episode in Lust Stories which was directed by Karan Johar. “Every time Karan comes with a script, I listen to him because he has my best interests at heart,” she says reverently.

The gamble of doing a South film also paid off with Bharat Ane Nenu opposite Mahesh Babu turning out to be a blockbuster. “I want to do at least one South film every year, I want to be a pan-India actress,” she asserts, admitting that as a kid, she’d stand in front of the mirror, dress up and dance. “As a Leo, a drama queen, I have to be in the spotlight. I’d put up shows for the family and now I’m entertaining a bigger family,” she signs off with a smile.