She won the Miss World title in 2017 and then became an actor. But Manushi Chhillar’s original plan was to clear the medical entrance test and become a doctor.

“After winning Miss World, I worked really hard to clear my medical entrance in college. I always wanted to become a doctor and use the medical degree and my experience as Miss World to work on social causes. But life had other plans,” says Chhillar, who marked her Bollywood debut with Samrat Prithviraj (2022), co-starring Akshay Kumar.

The 26-year-old, who will soon be seen in Tehran, alongside actor John Abraham, says one can’t really prepare for life-after-fame, but she isn’t complaining, “I was three when (actor) Priyanka Chopra Jonas became Miss World. I never knew how winning the title changes your life until I experienced it myself. I realized that going back to college was not possible because you lose anonymity. There’s a certain amount of privacy and anonymity you want as a student. When you become popular, your life changes,” shares Chhillar.

Talking about her career trajectory changing from modelling to acting, Chhillar says, “People wanted to launch me [as an actor]. That’s when I learnt that the only thing that’s certain in life is uncertainty. In the end, everything worked out in my favour.”

Celebs often say that the biggest downside of belonging to entertainment industry is that your personal life isn’t private anymore. Having spent six years in showbiz, has she learnt to deal with that?

“The key is to not take it too seriously,” she says, adding, “When I became Miss World, 90% of the stuff that was written about me was all fiction. There were random stories about me that even I read or heard for the first time (laughs).”