Competition doesn’t bother me: Ileana D’cruz

Despite a successful career in the Telugu film industry, Ileana D’cruz, who made her debut with Barfi (2012), has worked in five Hindi films in the last five years. Ileana says that the offers coming her way didn’t excite her. “I know I haven’t gone on a (film) signing spree. It will sound clichéd, but I don’t want to sign anything and everything coming my way. I waited a year-and-a-half until I signed Rustom (2016) because I didn’t like the offers I was getting,” says Ileana, adding, “And as luck would have it, I ended up signing two films after that, and I was shooting for both of them simultaneously. So I prefer to go with the flow. I’m in no hurry. I’d rather do a little amount of good work then a whole load of crap work.” With so many newcomers being launched every year, does she feel the need to keep a track of what her peers are doing? Ileana says she is all for competition, but she’d rather concentrate on herself. “Competition is great. It inspires me to do better every day. I don’t go crazy stalking my peers but I’m aware of what’s going on to a fair extent. Competition doesn’t bother me too much. I have my days where I wonder whether I’m making the right career moves or whether I should do what the rest of my peers are doing. But then, I know, I’d regret it if I did what everyone else was doing. I’d rather make my own path. Flawed as it may be, it’ll at least be mine,” she says. Her next film, a multistarrer, will see her share the screen with Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor. She has been a part of twoheroine projects in films such as Barfi, Main Tera Hero (2014) and Happy Ending (2014) before but Ileana has no qualms about not being the ‘solo’ heroine. “If I was concerned about the length of my role or the significance of my character then I wouldn’t have taken on the film. It would be unfair to work in a film when you don’t believe in it. In fact, I think this film is more special because of the number of talented actors we have in it,” she says.

I have my days where I wonder whether I’m making the right career moves or if I should do what my peers are doing. ILEANA D’CRUZ, ACTOR