Sonakshi Sinha scrolls through her phone before our interview. In a black camo tank top, jumpsuit and sneakers, with her hair tightly braided, the actor looks refreshingly laid-back. Realising that we are both waiting for the other to start, Sinha laughs warmly before pointing the recorder in her direction. In the tête-à-tête that follows, peppered with Sinha’s laughter, she refuses to get upset. Whether it’s talking about fans who cross the line, or body-shaming that she’s faced, the actor is steadfast and unfazed by unpleasant situations.
Destiny’s child
It is fitting then that she plays Happy in Mudassar Aziz’s Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi ( HPBJ ), the sequel to his 2016 comedy Happy Bhag Jayegi . While the first part followed a spunky bride named Happy (played by Diana Penty) who runs away from her wedding to accidentally find herself in Lahore, Sinha will essay her namesake who gets embroiled in problems in China because of mistaken identity. “My character is completely different from Diana’s,” says Sinha, “she is not impulsive and boisterous like Diana’s Happy was. The only commonality we have is the name. That is where the comedy of errors begins.”
The actor also believes that she was destined to become a part of the series. “Mudassar had come to me for [the first film],” she reveals, saying she had to decline since she was already a part of action drama Akira (2016) at the time. “I believe that [everything] happens for the best, and whatever role is written for you, will somehow always come to you — it is destiny! So the first one was in Diana’s destiny,” she says with a smile.
Another member of the cast who also believes in destiny is Punjabi singer-actor Jassie Gill. HPBJ is Gill’s Bollywood debut, and he also gets to work with his favourite star — Sinha. Ask her how they bonded and she gushes, “He would barely speak to me on set, and then one day he sent his manager to my van [to say] ‘Jassie would like a photo with Sonakshi.’ Then he came in and says, ‘ Aap meri favourite heroine ho, aur mujhe believe nahin ho raha ki mein aaj aapke saath kaam kar raha hoon ’ (You are my favourite heroine, and I can’t believe that I am working with you) — it was so endearing!”
Close encounters
Not all of Sinha’s fan encounters are as charming though. While shooting HPBJ in Kuala Lumpur, a few ‘fans’ found out her temporary address. “They recognised [the place] from a selfie I took. They [knew] where a building [in the background] can be seen from. It was an apartment building, and they just entered,” she recalls. “Luckily, my staff was with me at that point of time, but these kind of things are not cool.” But Sinha soon flits to talking about nicer fan experiences — seeming almost uncomfortable with leaving this topic on a bad note. “But there was this very sweet bunch of fans who waited down for me,” she says beaming.
Uncomfortable encounters like these have happened over the years for Sinha. Having debuted with a blockbuster like Dabangg (2010), she shares how her personal journey with her weight has been under acute public scrutiny. “I was an overweight teenager, but I was very athletic and a very confident teenager. I believe I was like that because I never gave my looks that much importance. I always knew that there are so many other things that I am good at,” she shares. The actor adds that she brushes aside any body-shaming directed her way with, “The audience accepted me for who I was, how I looked, and what I did on-screen. So I concentrated on that,” she shares.
After HPBJ , Sinha will be focusing on Kalank , which has an ensemble cast that includes Madhuri Dixit Nene, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanjay Dutt. Soon after she will start working on Dabangg 3 . “Back to home base,” she signs off with a grin.
