Sonakshi Sinha wants to achieve a balance by doing all kinds of films. She chatted with Karan Bhardwaj about her ‘live and let live’ attitude
After playing a coy, desi girl in most of her films, Sonakshi Sinha is now set for an image makeover. She is seen as a fiery boxer in one of the posters of Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty. She says that she wants to play characters close to her real personality. “In the forthcoming film, I play an upbeat urban girl, which I can relate to easily. I learnt boxing for one particular scene since the director (AR Murugadoss) wanted to keep it as real as possible. And since sports have been a vital element of my school and college time, I enjoyed doing every bit of it. I have played volleyball, basketball and used to swim regularly. Sports help you develop right attitude towards challenges,” she tells us.
While her contemporaries like Kangana Ranaut and Vidya Balan are pushing the envelope with their out-of-the-box choices, Sonakshi Sinha is happy being the ‘heroine’ of the male bastion. In 2010, she debuted opposite Salman Khan in Dabangg and went on to reign over box office with blockbusters like Rowdy Rathore, Dabangg 2, Son of Sardaar and R…Rajkumar. In between, she successfully tried her hands on critically-acclaimed lootera. The actress has no qualms in admitting her fondness for masala movies. “My choice of cinema is not dictated by commercial compulsions. These are the films that I, as an audience, would like to watch. The fact that these movies became blockbuster proves that people like such stuff,” she says.
Sonakshi has impressive screen presence but many feel she is not doing justice to her skills. “The trend of women-centric film has come in very recently. That’s the reason why people are talking about it. But that cannot be the reason for me to jump on the bandwagon. I would like to wait for the right script. I am willing to do more scripts like lootera. In fact, one of my forthcoming movies, Tevar, is also on those lines. I am balancing it out. You cannot get projects like Kahaani or Queen everyday,” she tells us.
Bollywood is not believed to be a place for those extremely calm and gentle. But Sonakshi seems to be an exception. She is not interested in ‘anybody’s business’.“I am not competitive and don’t keep track of my contemporaries. I am more of a ‘live and let live’ kind of person. I focus on what I do. I have always been carefree and secure person. I am content and happy,” she says.
Sonakshi will be seen opposite Akshay Kumar in Holiday. This is her fourth outing with Akshay. “It’s amazing to work with him. He is extremely disciplined and an easy going person. He makes everybody laugh around him. Hassi Khushi din kat jata hain,” she says.While a lot of actors are known to take criticism in bad light, Sonakshi has a different approach for the negative feedback. “I have the ability to turn around negative things thrown at me. I take criticism seriously and try to better myself. If somebody is saying for the heck of it, I turn a deaf ear,” she says.