‘With success you lose friends, gain enemies’

It has been eight years that she has been a part of Bollywood (she debuted with Aladin; 2009). As she completed eight years in Bollywood, actor Jacqueline Fernandez talks about life, career, link-ups... This is your eighth year in the industry. How have things been? I don’t think things always go as per your plan. Even for me, things did not work out the way I planned them. Coming to India was also not a part of my plan. Everything that has happened in my life till now, I never expected them. The very fact that I wanted to be an actress all my life and I am getting to be one is amazing. Success is a great thing, but also comes with a lot of responsibility and negativity too. Right? Success necessarily doesn’t give you an amazing life. With success you lose friends, gain enemies and tend to attract a lot of people with ulterior motives. People constantly judge you; and that comes with a lot of pressure. You can let it get to you or you can say, ‘I don’t need to give thought to anything negative’. Recently, it was reported you were dating Sidharth Malhotra and there was ‘catfight’ between you and Alia Bhatt... It is sad. It’s the same media and same people that ask you, ‘why don’t you do more female-oriented roles?’ And it is the same female reporter who asks, ‘what about your cat fight with Alia?’ I was like, ‘you are a woman and how could you even ask me that?’ Are you single now?

I haven’t dated anyone [for a long time]; I am so focussed on my work right now that those things are not my priorities. I feel so hurt because people forget that we are working hard, and running our families. I wish they would grow up.