‘It’s absolutely possible for actresses to be friends’

Ileana D’cruz (right) made her Bollywood debut with Barfi! (2012), which also starred Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor. A couple of her other films, Main Tera Hero (2014) and Happy Ending (2014), also were two-heroine projects, but Ileana is more than happy to share screen space with female actors.

Slamming all rumours of rivalry and jealousy, Ileana says, “I don’t know if I can say I have friends in the industry, but I do have some great relationships with some lovely people. Nargis (Fakhri) and I got along really well during Main Tera Hero, and although we don’t talk often, we sort of follow each other’s lives on social media. In a way, it lets me see how far she’s come, and it makes me happy to see that she’s doing something that makes her happy. We lead busy lives that involve lots of travelling, so we don’t have the luxury of catching up over weekends.”

The actor goes on to add that she believes it is “absolutely possible” for two actresses to be friends. “Two mature women can definitely be friends. It’s silly to assume that two actresses would only resort to pettiness and jealousy. Only an immature woman who’s insecure would resort to something like that,” she says.

Ileana also counts Athiya Shetty among her friends. The two worked together on a new film recently and apparently got along like a house on fire. But Ileana credits Athiya for breaking the ice. “Athiya and I got along from day one. The first conversation I remember having with Athiya was during the screening of Rustom (2016). She came up to me, and she had her eyes all wide and she said ‘oh my God, you’re such an amazing crier!’ I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or not, but it was the most adorable thing I had heard all day. I knew then that I’d always like her. Sure enough, once we started working together, we got more time to hang out. As it turns out, we’re both foodies, we love shopping and we can yak on and on about typical girly stuff. She’s very cool,” Ileana says.