Before Student Of The Year 2, I had got a couple of film offers but had not taken them up as my parents wanted me to finish my graduation before getting into any profession. I remember meeting Karan (Johar) for the first time at the old office in Bandra around six months before I graduated. He was so sweet and asked me what I wanted to do in the future. I told him that I had been singing all my life but had never acted. I was doing a musical on stage at the time and he asked me to sing for him. I did and then, before I knew it, he was offering me a film. I still remember his exact words, “We have a couple of films in prep, but there is one in particular that will be ready in the next four-five months.” The timing was perfect for me, as by then, I would have graduated.

On finishing my studies, we met again. I tested for Student Of The Year 2 and everything just fell in place. Since it was a light fun film, we didn’t really have any acting workshops. We would just meet with Punit Malhotra (director) for readings, with Tiger (co-star Tiger Shroff) joining in too. The pre-shoot time was spent in deciding the costumes, and Manish (stylist Manish Malhotra) would often come with costumes which built up the excitement.

Ananya (co-star Ananya Panday) and I also had dance workshops for two months to rehearse all the songs. Tiger joined us later. On, the first day of shoot we filmed Tiger and my love song, “Jatt Ludhiyane Da”. It was a five-day shoot at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. I remember how thrilled I was when we reached there because though I have been dancing all my life, it felt surreal that I would start my first film with a dance number.

My first shot was really filmy, with my hair flying as my head turned. It was a one-take shot. I was not anxious because everyone from Karan’s team had come to support us. We had the traditional pooja before the shoot started. It’s always nice to start a film with a song as it lightens the mood. Recently, Manish sent me a video of my first shot that he had recorded from the monitor on the set. It was such a high!

The first day was smooth, but on the second day, I twisted my ankle while dancing. I didn’t really know Tiger too well then, but he put my foot up and massaged it. It was really sweet of him, not too many people would do this for a girl who was just an acquaintance. Over the course of the film, everyone became friendlier and soon we were one big happy family.