Your debut film is ready to release. What's the feeling like?
I am nervous, but at the same time I am very excited. It's very easy to tag a film 'not good' as people tend to do, even I did it before I was not part of Bollywood. Now since I am myself a part of the process, I know what kind of hard work goes into it. So I just hope that people will not trash it and give it a fair chance.
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Is it even more nerve-wrecking if you are a newcomer making a debut with another debutant?
Well, it is true that stars can get away with a lot of things, and newcomers have very little leeway, but at the same time a debutant is free from pre-conceived expectations. As a first-timer you can go ahead and do things the way you want and that's what sets the future for you. I don't think debuting with a newcomer makes a difference.
Do you think the audience is more receptive of new faces these days?
Of course. The very fact that so many newcomers are getting a chance in the Hindi film industry shows that the audience has been accepting them. Established stars have made way for new faces. Even established actresses like Deepika Padukone, are working with newcomers which means the young generation of stars in B-Town is getting its due.
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It has become quite like a protocol with beauty pageant contestants getting into films, something that you've followed as well.
Actually there is no defined way of getting into films, you do get an edge if you are a beauty pageant winner, but these days filmmakers are looking for new faces all the time. There are so many avenues through which you can get into films. You might just be walking down the road and get noticed and be picked up for a film.
Does it mean more competition?
I won the Femina Miss India Earth crown in 2011 and before I realized, I was crowning the next Femina Miss India Earth a year later. A new batch of such beauty pageant winners are being churned out every year, which makes it ex tremely difficult to carve your niche. You have to constantly be on your toes, keep doing something and somehow be in the news so that people know you are still there. It's not easy.
And people do all sorts of things to be in the news.
They do. But I am not the kind who'd give spicy interviews or have fake fights to be in the news. I won't mind calling a spade a spade, but I can't create sensation just for the sake of making headlines. I'd rather be what I am than go out of my skin to make news.
