Sonam Kapoor was having a quiet time for a year. On the films front, that is. She had signed up a bunch of unique roles, but none went the way she wanted them to and the girl is candid enough to admit that. “Things weren’t going well and I thought I should just sit and wait for the right script to come by. And Raanjhnaa happened,” says the daughter of Anil Kapoor. The film directed by Anand L. Rai (of Tanu Weds Manu fame) marks Dhanush’s debut in Bollywood and also stars Abhay Deol. “It’s a lovely coming-of-age romance and a visual extravaganza. I am so looking forward to it,” she exclaims.
Raanjhnaa has her playing Zoya, a girl growing up in Varanasi with whom Dhanush falls in love when they are still in school. The love continues when they grow up but later Zoya finds another suitor in Abhay.
About working with South star Dhanush, she says, “He is a delight to work with. He is a modest and humble being in spite of his interesting repertoire of work. In fact, I admire both him and his wife Aishwarya. They make the most wonderful couple. On sets, we would actually trouble Dhanush by not letting him have a moment of privacy in his van. We would constantly be in his van hogging all his home-cooked delicacies!”
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The actress, who battled the bulge in her formative years and is now hailed as a style icon, showed off a perfectly sculpted figure on the ramp in a Manish Malhotra outfit at an event for Colgate. Ask her if beauty is an overrated concept and she says, “This is part of my job. I have to look good. I am a firm believer in, even though it sounds corny, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.” She adds, “I am being brutally honest here to ensure that girls don’t try to blindly emulate stars. At any given point of time, I have eight people each working on my make up, hair, nutrition, diet, workout and image building. We also use the most expensive beauty products. Then there is Photoshop — we have it all. We can be made to look slimmer, beautiful and unrealistically perfect.” Sonam has always been selective about her endorsements. “Yes, I have. But more than strategy it is experience that I rely on. I always test the product that I endorse hence know that it will live up to its promise. I hate unrealistic claims.”
As Indian cinema completes a centenary, Sonam revels in the fact that her family has been part of it for over 50 years beginning with her grandfather producer-director Surendra Kapoor who passed away last year. “My grandfather was part of Mughal-E-Azam in 1960. My father has been in the industry for over 30 years now. I am proud to be part of such a legacy and I only hope for that kind of longevity. I want to focus on doing good films, not more films,” she says, revealing that she will definitely take up direction some day. “That and writing,” she says, flashing that charming smile and reminding us that her first love was the pen.