She’s a sensual yogini, he’s a focused gym buff. There could be no better ambassadors of health and fitness than Lisa Haydon and Hrithik Roshan
DNA (December 27, 2016)

Lisa Haydon and Hrithik Roshan feature in Vogue India’s January 2017 issue. This is an excerpt from the cover story of the issue.

BEAUTY ON THE GO: Lisa

Lisa discovered the joys of working out rather early in life. Looking good as a result of her healthy lifestyle is just a perk.

She started exercising when she was 11
“All credit to my mother who, despite having to look after eight children, always made time for exercise. She’d work out to Jane Fonda and later Kathy Smith and Cindy Crawford in between managing us. I soon joined her, as I loved aerobics and its accompanying music and the gorgeous swimsuits these women wore, showing off their super-fit legs that I desperately wanted. Then at 17, when I hit adolescence, I took to running for both the adrenaline rush and to blow off steam. I started with 10 rounds, then 20, and before I knew it I was running in professional marathons.

She wakes up at 6 am to exercise
“This is the only way I can be consistent, by 9 am I’m ready to go about my day as needed. So, I do Pilates thrice a week, run at the race course the other two days, do yoga at home once a week and give myself a break one day. I don’t work out for a shoot or a movie. For me, it’s a lifestyle. That one hour a day really pumps me up. I exercise because it makes me feel good… looking good as a result is an added bonus.”

GREEK GOD WITH A MISSION: Hrithik

Hrithik wants to get stronger than he’s ever been. He shares his strategy to stay fit and focused.

He bought a bullworker at age 11
“The first fitness equipment I owned was a bullworker I got through mail order when I was 11. I was obsessed with it. Of course, my dad (filmmaker Rakesh Roshan) was happy I was using it, for other reasons… he was concerned I’d stay stunted and every few days he’d ask what my height was. But the bullworker doesn’t help you grow tall — that’s largely genetics!”

Running gives him a high
“I love the feeling of running on the beach. Currently, I am also obsessed with calisthenics — it not only pushes you to challenge yourself, it also teaches you patience, because to achieve those big, crazy moves you have to start slowly. When at the gym, I intersperse weight training with functional moves.”

Old Hindi classics are his workout music
“It’s quite funny actually. I am a huge fan of techno, trance and electronica otherwise, but at the gym I like listening to soothing tracks. The fierce expression on my face while weight training is in complete contrast to the music playing.”

Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; July 2, 2016)


Lisa herself has been at the receiving end for her faulty Hindi diction in films, but the actress takes it on her chin. “I agree I have to continuously work on my Hindi because it is not my first language. In Housefull 3 the Hindi was purposely written in a funny way. It was self-depracating.” Ask her if she is taking any classes to learn the language and the right diction and she says it’s a work-in-progress. “I am surrounded by fellow actors who speak wonderful Hindi and are happy to help me like Abhishek (Bachchan) and Riteish (Deshmukh). In my everyday interaction too, I speak the language. When I am shooting for a scene I work on my diction before the shot,” she informs.

What about being trolled for her comments on feminism when in an interview she said things like “I don’t like the word feminist. I don’t think women trying to be men is feminism... It is just an overused term... Women have been given these bodies to produce children, and the spirit and tenderness to take care of people around us. One day I look forward to making dinner for my husband and children. I don’t want to be a career feminist.” When asked to react to it, she avoids it completely. Probably doesn’t want to set off another controversy.

Neha Maheshwri Bhagat (BOMBAY TIMES; May 22, 2016)

Lisa Haydon will soon be judging a model hunt, the Indian version of Tyra Banks's hit American TV series
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 5, 2015)

For a while now there's been talk of a desi version of the popular US reality TV series, America's Next Top Model, which premiered on May 20, 2003 with supermodel Tyra Banks mentoring a selected group of young women vying to win the show's namesake title.

In 2013, it was announced that the show is set to hit the Indian shores with either Aishwarya Rai or Deepika Padukone stepping into the shoes of Banks, who conceived and produced the TRP-topper, which has completed 20 seasons.

A year later, the show was nowhere to be seen but buzz was that auditions for the contestants had started with Bipasha Basu as the show's main judge.

But now Mirror has learnt that it is Lisa Haydon who will be judging MTV India's Next Top Model which kicks off in July. "I can't comment on the other names since I haven't heard about them being approached but I do know that there's been talk of the show coming to India for a while and strangely, for the last couple of years, they've always called me. And since it's an international franchise, I was keen," says Lisa who besides being a successful model also made an impact in Bollywood with a cameo in Queen, following it up with Shaukeens.

Lisa doesn't know who will her co-judges be but she does know what kind model is she looking for.

Besides height and bone structure, which is rooted in good genetics, Lisa will also take into account the contestant's personality and style, and that inexplicable X-factor which took the 5 feet 7 inches tall Kate Moss to the top, at a time when most models were required to clock in at 5 feet 10 inches.

"You need to keep an open mind because top models come in different shapes, sizes and packages," Lisa smiles, admitting that one of her favourites was Cindy Crawford whose visit to India had them all aflutter.

On her part, Lisa admits that she always knew that she was never cut out for a 9 am to 5 pm job. She wanted to be a part of the fashion, glamour and entertainment world and it wasn't long before a friend's agent signed her up when she was still in Australia.

"I was 18 when I did my first commercial for stretch mark creams. My muscular, taut stomach was used to lure women in their 30s and 40s who had just had a baby to buy the product. It was unreal, a real eye-opener and proved all that glitters is not gold," reminisces Lisa, admitting that it took a while for her to get rid of her inhibitions.

Given that she's now a model-turned-actress will she look for models with Bollywood ambitions on the show too? "No, we won't," she retorts. "It's not necessary that someone starts modelling to become an actress."

So what's happening with Vijaylakshmi's acting career? "Well, The Shaukeens was a funny film which I enjoyed when I watched it, but though appreciated, it didn't do really well at the box office. I'm in talks for another film which should roll in September but I can't divulge any details about it right now. For the moment, I've been travelling and that's always great," she smiles.

Is she open to another TV show? "Well, there isn't another one, as of now. I'll take things as they come. You know me, I never plan. Things just happen."

Seema Sinha (BOMBAY TIMES; November 2, 2014)

Lisa Haydon, who will be seen in The Shaukeens next, talks about her unconventional choices
Prateek Sur (DNA; November 1, 2014)

No, not at all. Rati Agnihotri is very beautiful and elegant. Ahana (her character), on the other hand, is a different kind of a fish in the pond. Ahana is a crazy wild child, addicted to social networking and volatile in nature.

You are portraying the role of a die hard Akshay Kumar fan in the film. In real life are you such a fan of any actor?
Ahana is not just a fan. She is obsessive. You see as you grow up in life your obsession moves away from fandom and becomes more of respect for that actor. It is because we enjoy their work a lot. If in that context you are asking, I guess I have a whole lot of actors whose films I have enjoyed over the years and been their fans.

Though Queen brought you a lot of fame and acclaim, you did not cash in on the success by going on a signing spree.
Are people actually saying that? I am hesitant to use terms like picking and selecting. I don’t want to seem pricey, but money definitely is the driving force behind all work. I have got a lot of movie offers but I want to sign those films which feel right to me.

Do you keep waiting for women-oriented characters?
Yes. That’s a big yes for me. I like playing strong women characters. But I guess that’s not all. Films don’t work out for various reasons. It can be something about the character that I don’t agree with, it may be the money or something else. I just hope that I get offers to play characters which I love, like what I have been doing of late.

Which actor do you think has a great sense of humour in Bollywood?
Akshay Kumar because he makes fun of himself in The Shaukeens.

Which actor do you think has the best body in Bollywood?
I would refrain from answering that because I am no judge. Also objectifying someone on the basis of their physical attributes doesn’t go down that well with me.

A diplomatic Lisa Haydon would rather talk about smoothies than scandals.
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 14, 2014)

It's a lazy Sunday at home and Lisa Haydon couldn't be happier as she feasts on mom-made pumpkin walnut penne and banana, date, coconut and peanut butter smoothes, before settling down to watch the Cameron Diaz-Leslie Mann-Kate Upton romcom, The Other Woman. For the last one year she has been missing out on these simple pleasures of life and is catching up during a rare 10-day family vacation.

Queen's Vijaylakshmi is not a pubbing-clubbing girl in real life. "I'd rather exercise and do yoga, go for a stroll on the beach, run a marathon, dish up a meal, watch a movie, listen to music or read a book," says Lisa, who's currently reading Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend.

Mohit Suri's planning a screen adaptation of the novel, has she had a word with him yet? "I can't possibly impose on anyone's casting," she exclaims.

She insists that even with her Queen director, Vikas Bahl, she would rather talk about life than work. "I know I'm on his radar and that he's making Shaandaar. But no way am I going to ask him why he hadn't signed me again. I'm not that dorky!" she says.

While other actresses are signing films by the dozen, lil' Miss Lisa is happy with The Shaukeens that fell into her lap when a Hollywood film took away Nargis Fakhri.

"I did give it some thought before committing two-and-a-half months to the film. But I took it on because saying no to such an opportunity would have been silly. Besides, the shooting got pushed forward by three weeks which gave me time for some homework," she points out.

Lisa plays Ahana, a cute, innocent, star-struck flower child. "She is nothing like me, I've been grown up for a while now," Lisa laughs. "But it was fun playing her and not just because it's my first solo lead. Vijaylakshmi was equally fulfilling even if she was just one chapter in Rani's coming-of-age story. Yes, since I have more screen time this time, I can dig a little more deeply into the mind space of the character."

Point out that her co-star Akshay Kumar, who plays a sozzled movie star in the film, has just a cameo and Lisa shrugs nonchalantly, "If Akshay says he's doing a cameo then he is. The film has three other heroes in the older gentlemen--Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra."

What was it like being pursued ardently by four men? Lisa points out that in an interview, director Abhishek Sharma had admitted that he chose her after watching Queen because there's nothing obvious about her beauty or deliberate about her sensuality. "Ahana's body language is that of a blithe island girl. She's blissfully unaware that these three old men, who have never been to Mauritius before or seen a girl like her, find her attractive," she reasons.

While actresses like Zeeenat Aman, Parveen Babi and more recently Bipasha Basu and Mallika Sherawat have been typecast as a 'sex symbol', Lisa finds herself saddled with the tag of a 'free spirit' or a 'Bohemian chick'.

"It's an amazing tag and I'm happy to have played Vijaylakshmi and Ahana. But I'd like to live different lives in the future. That's where the magic of cinema lies," she asserts.

Meanwhile, off-screen, everyone's in a hurry to find her a man. When she was spotted having dinner with Randeep Hooda, rumour mills went overboard. It was even reported that Milan Luthria was thinking of casting them together in his next.

But Lisa explains, "Randeep and I had just signed up with the same talent management agency, so the owner took us out to dinner together. It had nothing to do with Milan's film. I don't know what's happening with that, when I sign something, you will hear of it."

And what about rumours of a linkup with Ness Wadia? That question is answered with a shriek, "I'm not saying anything about Ness. The last time I spoke about him, it made headlines. I'm scared of headlines. It's hard to be candid with people."

Opinionated and outspoken, Lisa Haydon on the movies she’d like to do and the people she’d like to associate with
Upala KBR (DNA; September 3, 2014)


How alike are Vijayalakshmi and Lisa?
In some ways, maybe. But I am not crazy like her. I mean she has sex during the lunch break because she says she only has five minutes (laughs)! I am not like that! That character was so open to misinterpretation I was like I don’t know if Indians are going to like this girl. We abide by social morals and generally like to behave ourselves. Vijayalakshmi doesn’t care what people think about her and lives life in an honest way and that’s why she gets away with it because she is so clean inside.

Have you kept in touch with Kangana, post-Queen?
When we meet at events, we say hello and chat warmly, but keeping in touch? There is no sense in doing that… Do you keep in touch with every journalist you work with? No... It’s difficult because our lives are so different and we don’t have the time. I have such a big family as it is. I consider it a privilege that I get to connect with so many people closely working on a film. I definitely shared my life with almost every single person on the sets in some form.

Elaborate...
Kangana and I were also playing opposite characters in the film. She had to be depressed during her time in Paris and I had to be bubbly and upbeat. We also didn’t socialise a lot during shooting because if I talked to her, that would have ruined her headspace and I didn’t need to go to Rani’s headspace. So I hung out with the director Vikas Bahl and the ADs (laughs).

You’ve only signed The Shaukeens after Queen...
I haven’t even thought about that. I am trying to be a bit picky. I always feel a bit funny when I say I am being picky because I don’t want to sound pricey at all but I think it’s rare that roles like Queen come along. That was like a really good break. There are some other films that I might sign but I think I will just follow my intuition. At the end of the day, it’s not about being pricey or signing a slew of films but I think I just have to
do my job.

The Shaukeens is a remake. Seen the original?
I haven’t. I had a moment when I met Akshay (Kumar) for the first time and he asked me if I had seen the original. I was very embarrassed because I hadn’t. I was thinking if I could just lie now and go home and quickly see it before I saw him again (laughs)! But I didn’t and I am glad because only the format of the movie is the same, but the storyline and the characterisations are quite different.

Nargis Fakhri and you share much in common - you’ve lived overseas, know each other for a while, are both doing films and are both great dancers...
Thank you. I met her while modelling in Australia. Actually, she was friends with my sister Malika. I was the younger one. I love Nargis. She’s an awesome chick and she has great energy. But I won’t say I lived abroad. I have spent a lot of my life in India and on and off since I was 12, moving back and forth between India and Australia. From 12 to 17, I was here, after which I was in the USA till I turned 19. I was in Australia, 21 onwards. India, however, has had a predominant place in my life.

Nargis was to do The Shaukeens. Did you speak to her before doing it?
Not at all. Why would I call her and ask her if I should be doing it? It’s a personal choice, you know! The last time I saw her when I was with Sid Mallya shooting for Kingfisher’s calendar girls and she came down as a guest appearance. Every time we meet, we laugh a lot. She’s also got a great sense of humour.

Did it bother you that the role went to her before?
Not at all. That’s like having an ego. Why would I have any ego hassles with myself? It came to me and I am thankful for that. Two weeks before Queen released nobody would have offered me The Shaukeens. Nargis couldn’t do it, they offered me the film, I accepted and that was it.

What other films are you looking at?
I am a very sensitive person when it comes to signing films or anything to do with work. When I have to make a big decision, I give it a lot of thought. I usually feel hesitant first and then I go home and feel silly. I have got lots of offers similar to what I played in Queen and I like playing free-spirited characters, but would like to do varied roles. I would like to do an action film in the future, but what’s most important for me in a film is the actions of people and the realness of people. Like exposing humanity for what we actually are. I want to play characters that allow people to be themselves or open people’s minds.

Tell us about your family…
When I tell people we are seven siblings, they ask me if we are children from two marriages as it’s a large family. I am like no, we are all from the same marriage and parents (Venkat and Anna). I have got three brothers and four sisters. One of my brothers, Jono, is based in Sydney and the rest are in Mumbai. We all live together in one big house in Breach Candy. I love it. It’s fantastic! All of us have a lot of friends and they are always in and out and we have dinners every night. My dad is a motivational speaker, life coach and HR consultant. My mom helps my sister Julia with her ballet school and she also runs my organic cosmetics company, Naked. All my products only have three to four ingredients in them, the bare essentials that you need.

Your parents’ reaction to you wanting to become an actress?
They’re very cool. They don’t react to anything I do but will always advise me, if they see me getting hurt or walking in a direction which is wrong for me. It enables me to listen to them while still doing everything that I want to do. It enables me to tell my parents everything that I do. I don’t think our parents have ever walked around us with a cushion under any of our bums. They let us all do whatever we want, yet see whatever happens to us and understand that you cannot evade failure and pain. They are there for us unconditionally.

Any of your sibling harbour Bollywood aspirations?
Not at all. My family is not interested in acting at all. They are very happy for me but no one is interested in this line of work. My older sister Malika is a music producer and DJ, one brother plays cricket professionally and is a chef now after tearing a ligament in his knee, another brother Amit is studying BCom, my two sisters Julia and Ameeta teach ballet and another sister just completed her BA and is the captain of the Maharashtra football team. She’s considering what to do next. She had come with me on the sets of The Shaukeens in Mauritius. She loved it. They had put me in a suite the size of a house. I got the first taste of being a movie star. She flew in and when she saw the suite she named it the ‘Gatsby’ and told me, ‘Lisa I don’t know which balcony to smoke on.' (laughs) My youngest brother is doing a degree in hospitality.

Did you train in dancing?
My parents ran an NGO when I was young and we used to do stage performances and sell concert tickets to raise funds for charity. We raised funds for children who had polio, cancer, HIV, rehab centres for alcoholics etc. That’s how our dancing started. We also raise funds for the Bidada International Foundation during the charity camp held in Kutch every year during January. And then when I was 14, they put me in Shiamak Davar’s dance academy and then I learned ballet at the same time, which is why two of my sisters are ballerinas. We also wanted to do Indian performances, so I have learned a bit of Indian classical dances also like Kathakali and Bharatnatyam.

Define love.
Love is not conditional. Nor does it necessarily have anything to do with possession (at least for me), it’s not conditional on the way that you treat me. There’s nothing that my siblings or family would tell me or do that would change the way that I love them. It’s unconditional love and I want to apply that love to every single person in my life – whether it would be my future husband and whatever he would like to experience or my girlfriend who can tell me if she’s done something wrong. Love to me, today, means being happy for people. It’s not contingent on what you have to give me, but on what I have to give you. Love in itself is such a profound feeling. It’s about accepting the person you love without judging him/her.

Are you single?
I am single, but I am not looking for anything serious at the moment. I am having fun. I think I should just focus on my work now rather than jump out of one relationship and start looking for the next one. Right now, I just want to spend good quality time with good people, doing things that make me feel happy.

Were you dating Ness Wadia?
I think I should clear this once and for all, so my answer is – No. I am not and never was seeing him. Yes I do know him on a social level but I have never dated him. Ever. I don’t know where this rumour began, but it’s not true. I don’t want to talk about people who I have no right to talk about. It’s so ridiculous that I don’t want to even talk about it. That everyone close to me knows the truth, is all that matters. I don’t need to clarify to anybody else.

In touch with your ex, Karan Bhojwani?
We’re in touch a bit. He will always be one of my closest friends, he will always be family. I have no ego with him or about him. We have this, ‘Hey bro, what’s happening’ relationship for the moment. I guess there’s a friendship there only we understand. And it’s really hard to explain how funny it is unless you’re in it. But it’s shanti. Also I can’t keep answering these questions about him in the media. I feel like I’m pissing on his territory and that’s a liberty I don’t want to take. We both made a decision and we have to respect the space. You have to let some ships sail in life. So I think this will be the last time I say anything about this.

Randeep Hooda and you were snapped having dinner at a restaurant a few months ago...
We just walked out together and some pap clicked us. I had never met him before that night. The dating rumour was a lie. Maybe, somebody tipped off the photographer. I was at a work dinner with Atul Kaskebar and somebody else from Bling. Randeep had just signed up and I had just come back from somewhere outside. I said let’s go somewhere for dinner to celebrate the success of Queen. I was meeting Randeep for the first time, it were just the four of us having dinner and the next thing I hear – we are dating! I was like I don’t even have this guy’s phone number, we are not even friends. It was just so random. It affects me when it hurts someone close to me which the Randeep story may have done at that time in my life with what I had just been through. I am more concerned for my family and loved ones. I do enough bad shit (laughs) without people making up more bad shit about me. If I am in a relationship, I will be honest enough to talk about it.

Who are your friends?
A lot of my friends don’t live in India anymore. They are in Australia, New York, Spain and Amsterdam. We always try and catch up as much as possible. I have a home anywhere in the world and I use them (laughs). I have six really good girlfriends in Mumbai, plus my sisters. So that’s nine soul sisters in one city. Recently, I went to Ibiza in Spain with my sister Malika and best friend on a holiday. Some of my closest friends live in Spain. The girl, Digna on whom I based my Queen character Vijayalakshmi, lives in Ibiza. I said thank you to her this time because I didn’t know if I could have played that character as well if I don’t know this girlfriend. Digna does such outrageous things. I went to stay with her one night in Ibiza... she lives in a tree house in a forest and has a full-on adventurous life. I find such a life charming…

What is Rascals to you - an experience, a lesson or something to not look back at?
I never got my hopes up as far as Rascals was concerned. So, there was nothing to be disappointed or excited about. We shot Queen in 2012 and I forgot it was ever going to release. My life was going in a completely different direction. I don’t work like that. I live for this moment right now. I had fun doing Rascals but did I resonate with it? No, I did not, but I think it was a lesson. I learn from every film I do.

What is your dream?
I have been contemplating this a lot. What is freedom today? To live a life of freedom as much as I can. Which means not just in control of my job, or money or I being single but be free from inside. To be free means to be happy and I just want to be that. I want to live out my full potential and follow my heart. I also have this repressed desire to sing and play guitar. I want be a rock star one day. But on a very physical level, I think I am living my dream right now, doing movies, chilling on holidays, meeting amazing people, travelling. I love travelling and I am getting to do all that now so I am thankful.

Lisa Haydon denies being in a relationship, says she enjoys being a free spirit like Queen’s Vijaylakshmi and insists champagne and glycerine are not a great combo
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 28, 2014)

An unexpected champagne shower brought the first day’s shoot to an abrupt halt. It seems the Shaukeen remake is going to be a glam and sexy affair… 
When the champagne spurts into your eyes and reacts with the glycerine, it stings (laughs)! Definitely not a combo I’d recommend. But it was all in a day’s work. Shaukeen was the first lead role I’ve been offered and there’s no way I’d have turned it down. More than sexy I’d say the character I play in the film is one funny and crazy chick. 

But Akshay Kumar is known to reduce his co-stars to mere decorative props... 
Akshay may have a huge fan following and a large body of work but in this film each character is well-etched out by Tigmanshu Dhulia and there’s little chance of anyone fading into the background. It’s the story of three old men—lovable lechers —who fall for a young girl, played by me. I’ll get my screen time. Moreover, Akshay is very kind.

A lot of men, young and old, fell in love with Vijaylakshmi, the character you played in Queen and missed you post interval… 
(Laughs) So did my parents. They argued that I could have at least shown up during the rock concert. But Queen is a realistic film and Vijaylakshmi is there for a reason. It is Rani’s story (Kangana Ranaut) but turned out to be my breakthrough film. It’s nice to be missed. Feels great to have people acknowledge that I can act too!

Were you really acting? 
(Laughs) Yes, Vijay and I are a lot alike…and different too. I’m temperamental; I like to run, read, travel and have fun. Then there are times I just go inside my shell and be on a silent mode.  

Vijaylakshmi is a woman who unabashedly enjoys sex without looking for a commitment, she is a single mother without a bagful of complaints—she is neither virtuous nor virginal. Do you think she’d have been dubbed a vamp had the film released five years ago. 
No, she’d have got just as much love even five years ago because despite her flaws, Vijayalakshmi was just as pure as Rani. No one can look into her eyes and say she’s a bad girl. It’s easy to judge people, put them into little boxes, but with Vijay you have to have an open mind.

Just three films in four years and one special appearance song in a Telugu film Racha. Aren’t you taking it too slow? 
(Laughs) Slow and steady wins the race! The transition from ramp to movies just happened and I’ve never wanted to do more than one film a year. In fact, after Rascals I was ready to wait for a character I felt passionately about. And playing a bohemian like Vijaylakshmi was well worth the wait. There are some other offers but though shooting is fun, I don’t want to be on the sets 24x7. I want to have fun too.

Buzz is, your steady date, DJ Karan Bhojwani and you are engaged. Is a big fat wedding on the cards soon? 
I don’t know if I’m dating someone. Right now the focus is work. I’m very much single and that’s the end of this discussion.

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; March 9, 2014)

Lisa Haydon, 28, is impulsive, emotional and adaptable. She is a concoction of many opposites. While she is crazy at times and wants to have a good time, she is also spiritual. She is an extrovert outside, but values her space at home. While she is a believer in eternal love, she also has a high need to retain her own individuality. Over an hour-long conversation just before the release of her film Queen, she spoke to Bombay Times about her hippy mother, her uncompromising sister Mallika and why she has chosen to take a break for now with her relationship with Karan Bhojwani. Excerpts:

How did you become an actor?
I was born in Chennai, but when I was six months old, my parents moved to Australia. We lived there till I was two and moved back to India and lived here till I was 12, after which we did a lot of back and forth till we finally moved back to India in 2007 when I was 21. I actually got my first film Aisha as soon as I came here. I was modelling in Australia. I was at a 5-star coffee shop in Mumbai and was grabbing a coffee to get over a previous night’s hangover when I could see someone staring at me. I had not been in India long enough to recognise faces so could not recognise him till he came up to me and asked me my name and said, ‘You are a very beautiful girl.’ That’s when I realised that it was Anil Kapoor as he just said hello, introduced himself and left. Next day, he went home and told his daughter Sonam about me who told him, ‘Papa, I know Lisa, she is Karan bhaiya’s best friend’s (Karan Bhojwani’s) girlfriend’. Anil was producing Aisha and a year later, the Aisha team got in touch with my agency and I bagged my first role.

You have not done very many films. How did you keep yourself occupied? 
While I would love to do more roles like Queen, life has been perfectly busy and perfectly balanced. I have also been modelling, I did a TV show and launched my organic skin care range. I put a lot of emphasis on living life well and am a person who will take five holidays a year.

How much Vijaylakshmi (name of her character in Queen) are you in real life? 
I met my best friend Yasmine in Australia when I was 19 while searching for a launderette. There is a lot of me in Vijaylakshmi. I don’t think she has an agenda in life and does live in the moment in a way. There is no right or wrong for her, she has a kid and yet lives with her boyfriend. She is a quintessential western girl, but not in a typical way. She is just a good girl by heart who lives her life with faith. She is quite crazy and quite clumsy and I relate a lot with her being open-hearted. I feel someone who is open-hearted will always be attractive. It has taken a while for someone to see a Vijaylakshmi in me. You could look at me and say that here is this girl who is hot, but there are so many dimensions to me. If I go to Hollywood, they would not think twice before putting a gun in my pocket, but here they would rather put a bikini and an eye liner and curls. So I think that part was really difficult to get through, but finally, Vikas Bahl saw me in the right way.


Talk about your family?
My dad is a life coach and deconstructs HR departments and mom is a housewife. My parents are both open-minded free thinkers and it’s a blessing to have parents like that. My mom is an Australian, but she chose to come to India, work with Mother Teresa, hiked in the Himalayas and was a hippie. That as a choice is free thinking. And for my dad, who comes from a traditional Indian family, just to marry that kind of free-spirited open person is in itself free thinking so their love marriage in a sense itself is symbolic of a certain kind of lifestyle. We are eight siblings from the same two parents and we all live together, barring one of my brothers who lives in Australia. It’s unbelievable to come back home to a house full of family and love. We are all kind of the same age group where my oldest sister Mallika Haydon is 30 and the youngest is 18. My mom is amazing, both in her looks and as a person. Everything in my house is open for discussion and everyone pursues their own passion. My one brother is a chef, my two sisters run their ballet school, my one sister is a DJ, Mallika is an artist, I am an actor. It’s a really creative house. Ours is a social house where my dad will hang out with my brothers and have a drink in the evening.

What was your lowest emotional point in life?
I have always been a fan of supermodels. I went to see Cindy Crawford when she came to India. For me, it wasn’t vanity for vanity itself. I was curious about their lifestyle and moved to Australia. I was waitressing down the beach when a friend suggested I try modelling. I tried and became a model. I also became a yoga teacher. I was 20 when I was in a live-in relationship in Australia. The thing that defined me at that time was this relationship, till one day when I told him something he didn’t like and he kicked me out. I was jobless and I remember standing on the street with two suitcases not knowing where to go and did not know what I was going to do. I moved in with a childhood friend, but it changed my life. He was very Buddhist and he got me into vipassana and yoga. But I had put all my eggs into one basket. That was the beginning to the rest of my life. I have always put love first when it comes to my career. I am going through what I am going through right now because I want to have a strong sense of identity for myself. Life is not about choosing one particular lifestyle. I want the world to be boundless, limitless and I want to be able to be open to all kinds of possibilities and I know it is very difficult to put another person through this if he is not as free-spirited as me.

Do you see yourself getting married at any point in life? 
I am a believer in love. Do I believe in eternal love with one person? Yes, I do believe in that as well. But at this particular point in my life, I need to grow up by myself to really know who I am. When you are a team, you surrender yourself to the other person’s lap and don’t have your own identity. You can always melt into that, which is not super-healthy. So I think you need to have your own identity before you get into that ever lasting relationship.


Karan Bhojwani and you have been in a relationship for a long time. What is your relationship status currently? 
I am madly in love with him too. I am an adaptable person who is not materialistic and believe that while you could be adaptable, it is also important to hang onto your own and have your own identity. I am very loyal and not a floozy when it comes to love. I am also not good at losing friends or love and in that way I am insecure. Right now, we are not together and need to figure things out. Life can go either way.

Who is your emotional anchor? 
My mom and my older sister Mallika. Mallika’s an artistic person who has spent many years finding out what she wants to do, but someone who never makes any compromises with that and I respect her for that. She is not very social, but is very deep and is a rock who will always be there for you. In contrast, I will be chasing some dream or lying on a mountain or a beach or sleeping under ferry lights under Kabania feeding another hippie, as I too am one like my mom. My mom is more my friend than my mother and will always give me good advice. I am a lot like her. I am definitely difficult to live with. I am very dominating. I am super soft, but very outspoken. I am probably in my house the most loved person, but that doesn’t make me easy to live with even though I will cook dinner and will be emotionally there for everybody. I know I am my mom’s favourite hands down as the other kids don’t understand mom the way I do emotionally. It’s actually difficult to cross the barrier and seeing parents as human beings and not parents and knowing that they actually have their own journey, something you need to listen to and respect. I did that with my mother, so she and me have a special relationship. Of course, I feel bad for my dad as I don’t know what he got himself into with five daughters who are all nut jobs and are strong high-powered human beings.