Sonakshi : 'Sex appeal doesnt lie in the length of your clothes'

From Dabangg to R... Rajkumar, Sonakshi Sinha has never played a damsel in distress, and even though she says she can play one when she needs to, this bada**ery comes more than naturally to her.

"My closest friends know I am pretty bindaas that way, and these characters that I have played, have been women of substance and people who have their own voice. I think that when people meet me they realize that I am like that, and that's why I get cast for these roles. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and portray who I am on screen," she says. But she has rules about what she will or won't do on screen, and is very unapologetic about them. When she wore a sari and came out of the water in Gandi Baat in R... Rajkumar, there was much talk about the missing bikini from that quintessential Bollywood scene.

"I am glad that people are talking about it. I found it really funny when it was brought to my notice - that when people come out of the water, they come out in bikinis, and I was in a sari. Prabhu sir ( Prabhu Dheva, the director) knows how to project his heroines in a good way without making it look vulgar or cheap. So I was very happy, I had no qualms in doing that scene. And really, being sexy or sex appeal doesn't lie in the length of your clothes or how skimpy an outfit is or how much you're revealing. I think it's always nicer to leave stuff to imagination," she says.

"I have worn western clothes in Joker, which, unfortunately, not many people saw. I wear skirts and dresses otherwise. But it is intentional that I say I won't wear a bikini or whatever, because I am uncomfortable in that," she adds.

When Sonakshi entered Bollywood, she had her father's legacy to continue. After nine films, she says, people are telling her that she's making her dad extremely proud and that they have even more expectations from her. But she's never felt any pressure about that.

She says, "I had no intention to join Bollywood in the beginning. I was studying designing. So I came in with a blank slate, and I had no pressure that I have to be as good as my father. I was just thrown in the deep end of the pool and I learnt how to swim on my own. It was natural and gradual, and I felt at home. I am a strong believer in destiny and I feel that this was written for me. I love what I am doing. I have been working a lot and it's not like I need to. My family takes care of me, I'm not the sole bread earner of the house, but I do it because I love it. I can't live my life any other way. I am addicted to it now. I get time off very rarely; if a shoot gets cancelled or something, and when that happens, I have no idea what to do with myself."
And the one thing she's very happy about, is that after Lootera, people have started looking at her differently. She explains, "They're looking at me as a serious actor now. The kind of appreciation I got for this film, I haven't got that for any other film of mine. And although I am doing many commercial, masala films that I really love to do, people now know that I can also pull off aLootera."