“I’M ACTING ALL DAY, IF I FORGET TO STOP ACTING ONCE I’VE LEFT THE SET THEN IT’S HARD TO REMEMBER WHO I AM!”

—RAKUL PREET SINGH

when talking to pretty women who’re feeling poorly. Would she like to reschedule, you ask. Perhaps pick this up later after she’s taken a steam, and had a hot cuppa at home? “No, no, don’t worry, I’m used to this. Let’s just talk, I promise to be entertaining,” she says enthusiastically. Within the first five minutes of our chat, Rakul has not only set the terms of engagement, but convinced you that it’s the best course of action.

It’s probably not a gambit, you tell yourself. The poor girl has spent all day on location shooting for her next big film, Mayday, and the copious use of glycerin, that, she says, is responsible for those red eyes, implies some emotionally-wrought scenes. All those manufactured tears certainly don’t seem to have taken a toll on her spirits, you say, and she laughs. “I figured that one out long back. It’s a job, and I don’t bring it home. I’m acting all day, if I forget to stop acting once I’ve left the set then it’s hard to remember who I really am!” If she is putting on a show then it’s a darn good one. Her day began light years before yours: a workout at five in the morning, followed by a 15-kilometre cycle ride to the set, where she spent the entire day shooting – you certainly wouldn’t have blamed her for sounding a wee bit tired. “Don’t worry, I do this 360 days a year… I guess you could call me a workaholic,” says the 30-year-old in one breath.

The genesis of that unrelenting work ethic comes from competitive sport, more specifically golf, that Rakul pursued as an amateur in her teenage years. “Both my brother Amanpreet and I were pretty serious about golf. I was good when I was 14, played to a single handicap, and competed on the junior circuit,” she says, adding that, “…even then I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue as a career.” So, does she still play? “Well, I played at an event with Kapil Dev sometime back and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Told myself that I must play more often. But I manage no more than perhaps once in a couple of months.”

She manages to tee it up in Hyderabad and Mumbai, the two cities she calls home but, as an Army officer’s daughter, has trouble with regional identities. “See, I studied in over 10 schools, I speak English, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, and a bit of Tamil… so when someone asks me where I’m from, I just say I’m from India, you know!” You know all too well: as an Army brat yourself, that is your standard response to questions of identity. The walls have been breached, and journalistic objectivity well and truly decimated, you find yourself nodding your head so vigorously that it cranes your neck.

Considering that Rakul started her acting career at 18, the 35 films she’s worked on