‘I guess I have become more dependable’

Nushrat Bharucha’s film Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) crossed the ₹100 crore mark at the box office and became one of the highest grossing films of 2018 so far. The actor is on cloud nine with the terrific response. She says, “We used to joke on the set, ke hum toh badi picture bana rahe hai. But that it’d become this big, I don’t think any of us anticipated. You know, while shooting, sometimes a director says, ‘This was a magical shot’, and no one can explain it, you can just feel it. I think that’s what happened with SKTKS — audiences just felt it.”

Talking about the film’s success changing her fate, she says, “Career-wise, there’s a sense of belief that people have in me now. They are taking me more seriously and with [the film’s] box-office standing, I guess I’ve become more dependable. But the future will be defined by my choices.”

Nushrat is open to different genres of movies. “I’d like to explore every kind of film,” she says. “I believe in doing something new each time, which keeps the actor in me on the edge all the time.”

Her previous films, Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015), or even SKTKS centres on male thinking about female behaviour in relationships. Asked if she can personally relate to any of the characters she has essayed in these films, Nushrat says, “I’m nothing like what I was in PKP or PKP2; these characters are far away from me. Sweety (in SKTKS), on the other hand, I feel I can relate to. I can fight for something I passionately believe in. But I don’t have Sweety’s mind to scheme my way through things to get it.”

Talking about the harshest remark made by a casting director, she says, “A lot of people said to me earlier, ‘Tum heroine nahi ban sakti.’ But I took their advice, and I became a villain (laughs). I’m an outsider; there was a lot I didn’t understand. There still is a lot I don’t, but I learn and move ahead. Success has always mattered. Now, it’s up to me to sustain it.”

There’s a sense of belief that people have in me now. They are taking me more seriously.

NUSHRAT BHARUCHA ACTOR