LIFE Celebrating
Actor Rakul Preet Singh talks about what festivals mean to her since her ascent to stardom
Festivals have taken an all new meaning for Rakul Preet Singh, 28 ever since she stepped into the world of cinema six years ago—she is often on the sets of her film away from family, isn’t excited by the thought of dressing up because she’s “doing it all the time anyway” and has replaced her favourite sweets with healthy treats. But hectic schedules have taught her to not wait for festivals to celebrate time with her family. “Why just festivals, I think every day should be celebrated,” she says. Known for her disciplined fitness schedules, Singh has her occasional “cheat treats” but has devised innovative ways of not missing out on festive sweets. Last year, she marked Holi festivities with special gluten-free gujiyas sweetened with cane sugar. “I used to wait all year for Holi only because I could eat gujiyas. But now the health sector is booming with healthy treats so there’s no need to deprive yourself and I could still eat my favourite treat,” she says. Like most children, Diwali was all about crackers and lights but Singh’s most poignant memory of the festival is when her father gave her and her brother a Rs 100 note and a candle and asked them to burn it. “We were shocked but he explained to us that bursting crackers is the same as burning money. Instead, we should give it to someone who needs it,” she says. Singh was in Class 8 at that time and has celebrated Diwali without firecrackers ever since. “Now Diwali is more about
spreading light and happiness to people around,” she says. The Delhi-bred actor signed her first Kannada film, Gilli, when she was 18 years old but the month long schedule of “cramming up dialogues” and acting kept her away from the college classroom. “Back then, with no background in films, I didn’t even know that a movie industry existed in south India but I was happy to take up the first assignment I got,” she says. With her attendance in college hitting a low, she took a break from acting and went back to class to complete her graduation in Mathematics but continued modelling, excited by the thought of augmenting her monthly pocket money of `2000. “I also wanted to earn money and be the first one among my friends to buy a car,” she says. A beauty pageant later, she made her Telugu debut with Keratam six years ago and then signed her first Hindi film, Yaariyan, a year later. This year, Singh is set to spend Diwali shooting for a film in Hyderabad but the young actor isn’t complaining. She is already shooting for her 30th film in a span of six years which has seen her act in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu movies.