Sonakshi Sinha is all smiles, basking in the glowing reviews she’s received for her performance in Heeramandi. “I’m thankful to Sanjay sir (Leela Bhansali, filmmaker) for showing me to audiences like they’ve never seen me before,” the actor says.

In an exclusive chat with HT City Showstoppers, she talks about her relationship with fashion and the journey from aspiring fashion designer to stardom.

Sinha reveals that she was drawn to fashion as a teenager: “Mum (politician Poonam Sinha) produced Mera Dil Leke Dekho (2006) when I was in school. I helped her with styling and clothes. [Actor] Koel Purie was the first person I ever designed for.”

However, the actor admits that it didn’t “come naturally” to her. “My style is very casual, very easy. But I’m open to experimenting and open to trying out new things. So it’s been acquired,” Sinha tells us.

Why design? “I was just out of college, trying to figure out what to do. I was good at drawing figures and silhouettes, stuff like that. Fashion designing seemed to be the most natural step,” she explains. But then, Salman Khan advised her to become an actor. “My life completely changed,” she says, referring to her debut in Dabbangg (2010).

Her career took off with films like Rowdy Rathore (2012), but it was Lootera (2013) — departure from her usual glam roles — that really let her shine. The 36-year-old also credits Akira (2016) for her pivot from masala films. “I was the focal point [of the film], it was liberating. That’s when I realized I wanted to portray strong female characters on screen. Since then, I’ve stuck to my guns, whether [a film] worked or not,” she tells us.

With her venture into streaming, first with Dahaad — which went on to become India’s debut at the Berlin International Film Festival — and now Heeramandi, does Sinha feel the medium has given her better opportunities than films? “It’s a coincidence that the better roles have been on OTT. I have always had that choice, right? [OTT is a] long format and I think people are willing to take more risks with female protagonists on OTT,” she ends.