“I’ll only answer interesting questions,” Parineeti Chopra announces even before the interview starts. She’s promoting Kill Dil. Being the natural and brilliant performer that she is, Parineeti is willing to answer only clever questions – clever, much like her films. Boring and run-of-the-mill questions are a strict no-no. Thankfully, PC enjoyed taking on the ‘interesting’ questions posed by Bollywood Celebden. In the conversation that follows, she shoots straight from the heart – and hip – touching upon several issues, including her fashion sense, friendship with contemporaries Alia Bhatt and Sonakshi Sinha, her grumpy behavior with nosy reporters of late, competition with sister Priyanka Chopra, doing Saif Ali Khan’s next and more.
If you look at the 1990s and the last decade as well, a lot has been spoken about the supposed rivalries and catfights between actresses. Like, Sridevi and Madhuri were not exactly best friends. But when we talk about the new generation and new breed of actresses or actors, hardly do we get to see or hear anything of that sort. For instance, you and Alia Bhatt are friends. Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dharan are buddies, not rivals. What’s going on?
Because, we don’t fight with anyone. I’ll tell you. The real reason is that we genuinely like each other. Most of us know each other before we became actors. For example, Ishaqzaade had released and Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt were still shooting Radha song from Student of the Year. Shraddha Kapoor had done one film and I had just done Ladies vs Ricky Bahl when I met her. We all have the relationships from before and then, we all became actors in front of each other and so there’s no reason to suddenly not like each other. That bond is being carried forward. Also, I think genuinely we know that it works for everyone. I don’t need to cut you to get your film. It doesn’t happen because we are different personalities and so, we get our kind of work. There’s no reason to fight and we genuinely spend so much time with each other, like, partying and going out for movies. I don’t know why this can be surprising to anyone.
That’s cool.
Yeah. It avoids so much of problem. For instance, if there’s an article stating that I fought with a particular actress, we call up each other and clear the misunderstanding informing the other about what I’d spoken and what got printed. So, please ignore it. Otherwise what happens is that people start judging you.
You had gone through a lot of criticism when it comes to your fashion sense. But, today everybody is applauding you for that. Did you notice the difference?
I feel relieved, honestly because I really worked at it. This was one thing that was not my strength. Like, in the beginning, I didn’t know what looked nice on me. Somebody would just tell me to wear something, saying it would look nice but it would end up looking shit on me. Then I started understanding my body and started dressing accordingly, wondering how I’d look if I wear a particular outfit and pose for a photograph. So that along with a stylist is very important and self-analysis of what you should be wearing.
Do you think it’ll somehow bring a change in people’s outlook towards you?
That’s great. I need that. I need people to stop saying that I dress badly. I want them to say, instead, ‘She dresses well and acts well.’ I don’t want them saying, ‘She acts well but what’s wrong with her dressing style?” I don’t want any negativity around me. I want to improve that.
What hooked you on to the script of Kill Dil, besides the fact that it’s an ensemble and a chance to act alongside your favourite actor Govinda?
I was dying to do a film with Shaad Ali. He’s one of those directors who’s on every actor’s list. When I got to know that the film will be directed by Shaad, I was like ‘yes’ and later, when I got to know that I have to play a glamorous character and wear cool outfits, I was like ‘wow’ and on top of that, Yash Raj Films as the producer, it was like ‘yes, yes, yes!’
Sonam Kapoor re-tweeted an article by the journalist who wrote about you blasting reporters thrice.
Approval by another woman is always great. (Laughs) Approval by another actress is even better. I didn’t blast them but honestly, I spoke with lot of respect and in both instances, it was a dumb guy and a dumb question. If you say something which is not respectable to a girl, I’m not some Bhartiya naari going around changing the world. I genuinely felt that the two instances were really dumb and not required. So, I had to tell them that I’m fortunate that being an actress whatever I say people will go online and watch or read it. When I say something, it makes a difference. (Laughs) But it’s not my hobby to blast reporters.
Do you think you’re often misquoted?
Ninety percent of the time I’m misquoted. When I read my articles, I feel very bad. What is the point of sitting with you for 15 minutes if you’re not going to quote me well? In that case, it’s better that I write my interview myself and send it to you and then you copy-paste it. I like to talk in a flow. I won’t just give you an answer and stop at it. I myself will tell you stories just for the sake of fun conversation but then, if you link two things and put it… like recently, it so happened that somebody asked me, ‘Alia Bhatt has done Highway and Sonakshi Sinha has done Lootera. So, are you waiting for a film like that’ll define your career?’ I said no stating that I started with Ishaqzaade and want to do commercial films. Next day, it was printed that Alia and Sonakshi were waiting for career-defining roles and I’m not. I was like, ‘Where has my answer gone?’ I genuinely said it with so much positivity. And anybody who’ll read it will feel like why Parineeti is talking like this. Sometimes it’s good to sell your papers but you cannot demean an actor like that.
Women in Bollywood have become a lot more bold and they are taking initiative, whether it’s Anushka Sharma or Deepika Padukone and of course, you. Do you think it’s a welcome change? It’s something that ought to have happened, maybe, two decades ago.
I think the dynamics have changed now for the actresses to talk. Maybe, a decade ago that was not the dynamic. Today, it’s more of an informal chat between a reporter and actor. It was very different earlier when there were handful of reporters and publications and still it was tough to get interviews from the actors. And if the reporter would get an exclusive picture of an actor then it was considered a golden moment. But, now, people are only interested in pictures where they could see some wardrobe malfunction happening and would publish it and circle it shamelessly. It’s so sad. Photographers should be proud of their work. It’s just completely changed and that’s why we have to be so careful now.
Recently, actors like Shraddha Kapoor and Salman Khan got boycotted by the paparazzi. How has your experience with the press photographers been like?
Not-so-pleasant! They try to get touchy while taking pictures and their cameras hit my face. They are like falling all over. What to do in that case?
Your sister Priyanka Chopra took almost a decade to reach where she is today but you took less time to get to the top.
It’s very scary. Jitni jaldi acceptance milti hai utni jaldi chali bhi jaati hai. So, you’re always on the edge. The moment you wake up you hope to do good work for the day. It’s literally day-to-day because one scene or one song can change things for an actor. It’s so competitive today. That fear is constantly there. I love acting till the time you guys would like to watch it.
Do you really feel the need to do an out-and-out commercial film which will get you the Rs 100 crore tag?
Sure, why not? My career has been slightly different than the others because all the films that I did so far were real, small-budget films. There were no films that could have reached the 100 crore level anyway. Shuddh Desi Romance making Rs 50-60 crore is still a very good number for a film like that because the budget was small and there was no big star. For 100 crore the packaging also needs to be like that. There has to be that much of delivery to the audience, like you have to give them big stars, good locations, good costumes etc. I haven’t worn a glamorous costume even for one big song in any of those films. Now, Kill Dil should reach a commercial point. I’m not saying 100 crore because this has also been made on a moderate budget.
You’ve signed a film opposite Saif Ali Khan which will start in January.
Even if I start shooting that film today, it’ll anyways take eight to nine months to release. The Saif film is signed and kept but we are not shooting it because he was busy and I was also busy with Kill Dil promotions and producer Dinesh Vijan (Saif’s business partner at Illuminati Films) was busy working on previous projects. So, we pushed it. I don’t know when it’ll start. I don’t know what my next film is.
You’ve been doing films with mostly young actors. Don’t you want to be paired opposite the veterans?
I’d love to do a film with superstars. I always try to do films that will make a difference to the story. Like, I’m making a difference to the story in Kill Dil which sees three male actors. My next film is with a Khan – Saif Ali Khan.
You pulled a prank on Ali Zafar while promoting the film on Bigg Boss, which a lot of people felt could have been avoided.
I know Ali before he became an actor. So he was the only one that I could pull a prank on without any hesitations. And it was planned by people who run the show. They know what works for them and what doesn’t work for them. They asked me and Ranveer to pull a prank on Ali and we weren’t sure what to do. At every reality show, we are given a script and we have to act according to that. It’s not your show.
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