Having done commercial potboilers such as Dabangg (2010) and Rowdy Rathore (2012), being part of a period film like Lootera (2013) changed Sonakshi Sinha’s career trajectory. She managed to prove her versatility as an actor with her portrayal. As the film turns 10 today, Sinha recollects the first time she saw herself in Lootera.

“When I watched the film for the first time, I was like, ‘Who is this person?’ I couldn’t believe it was me. Getting to know my character, Paakhi, was surreal. I was proud of myself and what we had made,” says the 36-year-old.

Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, the film, co-starring Ranveer Singh, saw Sinha play an ailing woman. She says she didn’t gel with Motwane initially: “We come from different schools of cinema. He used to be like, ‘Get into the character and feel the emotion’, while I was like, ‘What is he saying?’ We did have friction initially. I asked him one day, ‘How can Paakhi crack jokes in one moment and cough up blood, crying in the next? So he said, ‘Whatever you are doing is working for me’. That was our moment of reconciliation.”

“It was lovely to see Ranveer like that. To step into the shoes of his character, he gave up coffee throughout the shooting of the film. He said, ‘I don’t need the energy’. He is a hyperactive person. For him, to do whatever he did, was more of a challenge,” says Sinha.

“For Sawaar Loon, I changed 13 sarees in a day because the entire song had montages,” she says.