"I don't want everyone to know everything about me. I get uncomfortable even when strangers see a part of my house." In an interview to GQ India, the actress talks about why she may be perceived as boring, but she doesn't have interesting stories to share like, "I really wish I had something to say, like I used to be fat and then I lost weight, or a producer just walked into a caf once and gave me a card or like, you know, I was somebody's daughter." However, she does talk about endorsements, growing old, films and Virat. Read on...
She reveals that she allows herself to be choosy about the movies she does. With endorsements, she doesn't have to say yes to a shitty script to pay the bills. "Endorsements are how I bought this house. Our world is only about consumerism. Look at anything and you can trace it back to a product. There's nothing that's happening without advertising. That's the world we live in."
"From the time we're children we start having this herd mentality. It disturbs me." Anushka adds, "Like when I read that a journalist wrote something about a famous actor smoking a cigarette. He wasn't asking anyone else to smoke, that's just a life choice... People find it easier to let others make decisions for them. So if tomorrow I love Shahid Kapoor as a fan and I want to stay away from smoking, what does it matter if he smokes or not? I mean, why can't people be intelligent enough to make their own choices? I'm reading Naseeruddin Shah's book right now, and he's so honest" - this book is also on the coffee table - "he's talking about prostitution and drugs and everything. He's just talking about his journey. We're not so stupid that we'll just follow someone's life blindly."
Anushka doesn't hesitate to expound, on record, about what she thinks is wrong in the compound. When I jokingly equate film promotion with prostitution, she ticks off things like shopping mall appearances.
"I don't like the way we're promoting our movies. I find absolutely no dignity in it." Then, from her other self, she tries to rationalise: "Yesterday some person told me he was worried about me because I don't know how to market myself as an actress and I said, Market myself? What does that even mean?" she asks.
She wasn't always a celebrity and can remember when going out for dinner didn't mean everyone in the restaurant wanting to take your picture. "You can ask me and I'll take a picture with you, but if you're just going to take your camera out and treat me like a monument or something... I don't feel like a human being That's what pisses me off. I'm always looking around. I know when someone's taken their camera out."
Just like she knows she cannot escape being asked about beau Virat Kohli. "Listen," she says, "someone picking someone up, someone dating someone and kissing them, these are normal things. But such a huge deal is made out of it and the media make it seem wrong, you know? Almost dirty. That's the problem. I don't think the people who write in this manner have the right to question why I'm not talking about my relationship, or why someone else is not talking about their relationship... This is why actors clam up completely. I have a problem with moralistic people. What the hell? Who are you? I do my work well, I'm good to people. Why am I judged by who I'm with, whether I'm married or not married to them? I will continue to live my life with whoever I'm with normally. I will not talk about it because the minute I put myself out there, the way that information is treated is just horrible."
5