My dream is to become a director. I want to direct a Hindi film.
I grew up in Banaras on Kabir and other Hindi poets and then I got introduced to Faiz, Hasrat Mohani, Allama Iqbal and Majaaz. They took me to another facet of literature and drama.
For ‘Tevar’ we chose Amit Sharma to do the Hindi version of the Telugu hit ‘Okkadi’ because we wanted to change the flavour and mood of the original.
Somehow, Hindi movies never took me in the same way Hollywood films did. Even at the age of five or six, I could see the difference in the quality of execution.
My films have become bilingual. When everyone saw ‘Chennai Express,’ they said it was a bilingual. But I am proud that ‘Chennai Express’ is the highest-grossing Hindi film down South.
I worked hard to reach where I am and I certainly don’t want to lose my grip over either Bengali or Hindi cinema.
Just because I take my music international doesn’t mean I have to sing in English. I will continue to sing in Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, and Tamil. I want to represent my own country through its own languages.
While I am fluent in Hindi, I was a little worried about my accent. So when I was approached for ‘Karwaan,’ I told them they need to first listen to me speak in Hindi, in case it sounds off.
I love Hindi films.
I’ve been offered bi-linguals and tri-linguals to be made in Hindi and south languages.
The way cinema has grown I think, doesn’t matter if its Hindi or South. People watch all languages.
It’s soo freaking hard studying all night for your exams when you know there is no hope of clearing the dreaded Hindi paper.
I’m sure I will play the typical Hindi film heroine and have my song and dance routines in future.
I so wish my dad was alive to see me do a Hindi film after acting in six Telugu movies. I sometimes imagine him giving me feedback on my work. But I derive strength from knowing he is watching over me.
Since I’m serious about a career in Hindi films, I’d have relocate to Mumbai.
I like Hindi movies. Although my wife thinks the hero and heroine breaking into a song and dance every five minutes is ridiculous, but I find them entertaining.
Today, there is not one Hindi movie which doesn’t have a kissing scene.
Hindi films are watched with keen interest in Pakistan, as Pakistani plays are watched in India. Pakistani actors also work in the Indian entertainment industry.
People want to see me for at least two hours uninterrupted in a Hindi film.
I came from a Hindi medium school… the principal felt that I would not fit into an English medium college. Though I was top in my class in school, and I got admission in other colleges, but I really wanted to study in St. Xavier’s.
I’m happy that the kind of films I’m doing right now is reaching a wider audience, and I’m looking forward to direct Hindi films as well.
I can speak Hindi, but I can’t sustain it over a whole movie.
I would love to do better in mainstream Hindi films, but one thing I must say is that my best experience so far has been in the Punjabi film industry, where I’ve been around for more than 11 years.
I grew up in South Mumbai and I am a total homebody, so I was not seen around. I guess that’s the reason many believed that I wasn’t Indian or can’t speak Hindi.
I’m not a television anchor for a Hindi channel or a radio jockey. So I may not be able to have a spontaneous conversation in Hindi. I’m a Bollywood actress, and I can certainly speak my dialogue in Hindi.
We cannot compare Marathi cinema industry with other regional industries or even Hindi industry. It will be unfair for us. Every industry takes time to evolve.
I enjoy doing a Hindi film more than South flicks.
After ‘Gangaajal,’ I did not take another Hindi film and shifted focus to Marathi cinema.
I don’t discuss my journey in the Hindi film industry since it is something personal to me.
I am going to produce a movie of my own. I am not going to stick to the time-tested formulae of Hindi cinema. I want to make a film for the present generation. So there will be a lot of new faces in the film.
I am hard put to think of a single positive thing that commercial Hindi cinema has achieved.
I take pride in saying that I’m not the usual Hindi film actor who’s on the top of her game for 4-5 years, then sees a slump, gets married, has kids and then makes a comeback in senior kind of roles.
I am the same person who came to this city Mumbai a few years ago to act in Hindi films, and I am just continuing doing that. I did not change as a person. All that happens is people change around me.
Hindi films do not respect fine actors, it is all about super stars and stardom. Film-making is reduced to revolving around a star’s moods.
The two Hindi movies that I did were not marketed well, and so not many people came to watch the film, hence the audience doesn’t know much about me. I am a newcomer, and I cannot sell a film on my own. There has to be a backing in terms of producers.
I am a movie buff – I even claim I am a Hindi film encyclopedia post 1988(only because that was the year I was born in… haha).
Even though I love Hindi films, I don’t remember any backdrop visuals that are really striking.
Thugs of Hindostan’ is the quintessential Hindi movie that we love to watch with our friends and families.
This will sound really funny, but I’m so used to shooting in Hindi that shooting in English took a while to get used to.
‘Poovizhi Vasalile’ was remade into five languages, including Hindi, and I played the same role in all.
While I was doing Hindi, people there laughed at me because I couldn’t speak Hindi and English properly.
The fight to grab eyeballs for Marathi films is intense because a majority of Maharashtrians speak Hindi and there’s no undivided loyalty to their native language among them.
What attracts me to Hindi films is the monetary benefits connected with it.
Hindi film and southern film industries are doing well when it comes to technical know how. By and large, they are pretty similar and are close knit industries.
I’m North Indian and Punjabi-ness is in my blood. Working in a Hindi film just makes me feel more confident.
