MUMBAI MIRROR (December 3, 2019)

On Neha Dhupia’s chat show, No Filter Neha, Jacqueline Fernandez spoke about her early struggles in B-town.

Next year, the 34-year-old actress has the Sajid Nadiadwala-directed sequel to Kick coming up, opposite Salman Khan, and reeling back to the original, she confided that just before the film came her way, she had told herself that she was done with struggling and asking for work. That’s when the biggest film of her career landed in her lap. “That’s the thing, this industry, it can literally make you feel you’re the worst, that you’re the most worthless, and then, all of a sudden, something happens,” she said.

Admitting that the films she had begged and lobbied for didn’t come her way, Jackie shared that she is bad at asking for things and marketing herself. But she admitted hearing that the biggest actresses visited the sets and offices of actors and directors and sat for hours. Some she has seen herself, while walking out of film studios waiting for the director to step out. “Then, they would go running after them, saying, ‘Please sir I wanna work with you,’” she flashbacked, saying these were the ones who actually got cast. Of late, she admits, she has become a more upfront and even sent a “I really really wanna work with you” message to a director, asking for a role. “And she’s like, listen, first of all you dumbo, you do not have to be ashamed to ask for work. I’ve had top actresses send me show reels. They’ve gone and done photoshoots of themselves in costumes after just having an idea of what the character might be. And these are girls who are at the top of their game,” she recounted.

Jackie candidly said that she didn’t get the film, but learnt that if you want something, you have to go out and get it.
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Jackie met Kangana Ranaut at PM Narendra Modi’s event and describes the other actress as “amazing” and someone she looks up to. “I need Kangana’s guts! I’ll give Kangana my dancing skills.”

She also wants Taapsee Pannu’s “speaking skills”, since she can converse fluently in Hindi, Punjabi and other languages. “I’m gonna give her my stylist,” she promises.
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On a podcast episode that drops today, Jacqueline says she originally wanted to be a nun before she ‘discovered boys’
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; December 3, 2019)

Given her love for dance, acting, and all things fashionable, Jacqueline Fernandez could easily seem deceptive when stating that she once harboured the desire to be a nun. “I went to a convent school that was run by nuns. As a kid, you follow an example and get influenced. I was influenced by them. We were in school, and in church every day. I was in the choir too. There was a lot of gospel stuff [that we sang]. It seemed like [I had no] other way to go,” the actor said in an episode of Neha Dhupia’s podcast, which airs today.

Prod her on the events that led to a change of heart, and she says, “I started discovering boys.” I started having crushes, and eventually knew that the nun thing would not work out.”

In a no-holds-barred approach, Fernandez even dug up old wounds to retrace the time when she felt her Bollywood career was failing. “In the beginning, I found success very fast. I got a couple of modelling jobs here. I was immediately cast in Aladin. [Then] there were bad days, where I had nobody to turn to and no idea what I was doing on a set. I got yelled at by people a lot, because I messed up often. Then, films didn’t do well. I had a lull for a year. [I began to wonder] what had I done [wrong], or [if this was the] right career move.”