Everybody suddenly feels that I’m not there: Parineeti

The actor insists that her career hasn’t taken a backseat; she has just been busy doing up her new house for some time now

If you’re one of those who’ve been wondering why you haven’t heard much about Parineeti Chopra’s (right) whereabouts, the actor wants to tell you that she has been busy doing up her newly-purchased house. In this interview, the 26-year-old star talks about not having taken a sabbatical and constant speculation that actors face, among other things.

We haven’t seen much of you for quite some time now. Are you on a break?

That’s not true. I don’t know why people say that. I did back-to-back films, and I was constantly working. Now, I’ve bought a house and I have been busy doing it up. I don’t know where the last five months have gone. Everybody suddenly feels that I’m not there. Maybe I didn’t go to enough press events. But that doesn’t mean that my career has taken a backseat. I think people are reading too much into it.

It is easy to get bothered by things being written about you on a daily basis. How do you keep yourself away from it all?

You just have to go and meditate in the hills (laughs). When we read things about ourselves, it sounds so blasphemous that you feel, ‘Oh my God! Really, did Parineeti do this?’ So, I can only imag- ine what people who don’t know me must think about me. We actors work so hard to build our careers. One false story or headline can affect so many people.

In an essentially male-dominated industry such as Bollywood, have you faced gender inequality?

There’s the clichéd answer that girls are still being paid lesser than boys. But that’s an age-old issue, and will be resolved with time. Otherwise, I’ve never been treated any less. I think we’re surrounded by people who are educated, knowledgeable and skilled at their jobs.

When we read things about ourselves (in the papers), it sounds so blasphemous that you feel, ‘Really, did Parineeti do this?’ Parineeti Chopra, actor