As told to Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 22, 2019)

I was working in films down South when I got a call from Mumbai. David Dhawan was remaking Chashme Baddoor and wanted to know if I would be interested in being a part of the film. They were looking for a girl like Preity Zinta for the role of Seema and going by the character sketch, Telugu director Puri Jagannadh recommended my name for the role. When I first met David sir in Mumbai, I wasn’t sure if I was in contention but by our second meeting, we had mutually agreed on the film and I was given an idea of the script, my scenes and my look. David sir had a particular look in mind and we experimented with my hair, clothes and styling. Our third meeting was in the city for the shoot.

I was super excited because I was going to be speaking in my mother tongue on camera for the first time. Since I was entering the Hindi film industry, it took longer than the usual time to get ready as I was being extra cautious. Even after I was all prepped up, there was a long wait as I had to enter the scene at a certain point, Ali (Zafar), Divyenndu and Siddharth who played Siddharth, Omi and Jai respectively, were done with their lines. I think the scene came before the interval and I had just one short dialogue. I was already nervous and as I waited for my turn, my anxiety escalated. I have no clear memory of my first shot even though I remember everything that happened before and after it. I don’t usually look at the monitor, but on that day, the team insisted I check out my performance, hoping it would calm my nerves.

My family doesn’t usually accompany me on a film set either. I am an extrovert and the unit becomes my extended family. In this case as well, I went out of my way to be comfortable with everyone and vice versa. This, over the years, I’ve realised is the only way to remain sane and happy at work.

It took some time for it to sink in that I was actually doing a Hindi film because I had just stumbled upon the offer. So initially, though I was speaking my lines in Hindi, I was performing like it was a Tamil or a Telugu film. The approach is the same, but then, I told myself that this being my language, I could do much more with the scenes and slowly started to improvise, adding personal touches and giving unscripted reactions during the filming.

I think Chashme Baddoor was the perfect Bollywood launch for me. Had I started out with a film like Baby I would have landed up with only small supporting roles while a Pink would have typecast me as a serious and off-beat actress. My debut Hindi film was fun yet conveyed to everyone that I can act and fit in both worlds.