Happy to bag a pivotal part in Marjaavaan, South star Rakul Preet Singh on how Bollywood warmed up to her after De De Pyaar De
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 4, 2019)

One of the leading actors in the South industry, Rakul Preet Singh is now focussing on finding her feet in Bollywood. The year has been lucky for her so far — while her last release, De De Pyaar De, was a box-office success, she has another promising outing in Marjaavaan. Unperturbed that she has an extended cameo in the Sidharth Malhotra-Riteish Deshmukh starrer, Singh emphasises that screen time is not a criterion while selecting projects.

"I play a sex worker, who is headstrong and often indulges in shayari. When Milap [Zaveri, director] approached me, he said that my character is like that of Rekha in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar [1978] or Tabu in Jeet [1997]. He explained that it was a powerful role. The screen time didn't bother me as I didn't want to go by perception; instead, I wanted to take the risk," says the actor.

After making her Bollywood debut with Yaariyaan (2014), the actor found herself gravitating towards Tamil and Telugu offerings. But she says the Ajay Devgn and Tabu starrer gave her the much-needed impetus in Bollywood. "I have signed four films post the release of De De... The film chose me and I am forever grateful for it. I kept getting calls and messages from the film fraternity after it released; the response from the industry has been overwhelming since then. People noticed me in the film because it was a commercial [fare] that had everything, from dance to drama and emotions."