‘I don’t share my emotional state with everybody’

Anushka Sharma, who turned a film producer with NH 10 (2015), is successfully balancing the roles of being a Bollywood actor and a filmmaker. Her understanding of cinema and the film business has changed, thanks to these roles, she says.

“You have a better understanding of how movies function because you are much closer to [the process],” she says. “As an actor, your involvement is very limited. As a producer, my involvement starts from the idea of a film right up to its development. The stakes are much higher.”

Juggling these two roles takes up most of her time. “I have zero time to do anything other than working,” says Anushka. “The past three years, I’ve been shooting back to back and releasing movies. In the past couple of years, whatever work you’ve seen of mine, you can tell that there has been a range that I’ve tried to achieve. And it has been [allconsuming]. So whatever time I get to unwind, I like to spend it with my family. I find a lot of happiness in doing that.”

The Phillauri actor is not very social. She says, “I don’t have the time to socialise. I’d rather use that time to relax and prepare for my work. After I come back from a party, I feel [so] drained emotionally and intellectually that I actually have to do something to feel better — so I watch TV or read something.”

When asked about whom she can call friends in Bollywood, Anushka says, “I don’t have too many friends in the industry. Of course, I am friendly with them. I respect them; they’re fun to be with. But, I’m an emotionally independent person. I’ve never been someone who shares too much about my emotional state with everybody. The friends I have are around the world.”

I don’t have the time to socialise. I’d rather use that time to relax and prepare for my work. After I come back from a party, I feel [so] drained emotionally and intellectually that I actually have to do something to feel better — so I watch TV or read something ANUSHKA SHARMA ACTOR