In the two years since she debuted in Bollywood with Barfi!, Ileana d’Cruz has just had three releases (Barfi!, Phata Poster Nikla Hero and Main Tera Hero). Her contemporaries might be busy with multiple releases every year, but Ileana is happy working at her own pace. “I am in no hurry. I have nothing to prove to anyone,” says the actress who turned 27 earlier this month (November 1). Ileana was dressed in a dramatic sheer Rohit Gandhi & Rahul Khanna top with Zara pants and sky-high Louboutins when t2 dropped in at Mehboob studios in Mumbai’s Bandra.

Belated happy birthday! Did you do anything special for your birthday?

(Laughs) Thanks. Lemme see…what did I do on my birthday? Oh, ya…I was working. Unfortunately when you get older, all you want to do is work. My girls took me out for dinner. So, it was a very relaxed and chilled evening.

One hears you felt really close to the character you play in Happy Ending. What was it about Aanchal that spoke to you?

She is a no-nonsense person. I used to be like her. Well… almost exactly like her. I was also a commitment-phobe and I’d be unaffected by everything around me. Aanchal is sassy and she doesn’t care about what people think. She is confident in her own skin. She also doesn’t believe in love. She believes in ‘have fun and move on’ kind of relationships. I am not like Aanchal anymore, but I used to be.

Your boyfriend Andrew Kneebone has a cameo in the film. How did that come about?

Honestly, I had no say in the matter. He just happened to be on set. He was holidaying in the US while we were shooting. Raj and DK (the film’s directors) kept joking about making him act, but I didn’t take them seriously. On the day of the shoot, I kept asking them if they were serious about having him in the scene and apparently they were! It was very weird to face the camera with him and to say dialogues to him. I think I was more nervous than he was! (Laughs) He did well in front of the camera. He was his regular cool and suave self.

Aanchal (in Happy Ending) is sassy and she doesn’t care about what people think. She is confident in her own skin. She also doesn’t believe in love. She believes in ‘have fun and move on’ kind of relationships. I am not like Aanchal anymore, but I used to be

 

There were some engagement rumours recently. You want to set the record straight?

Not really (giggles). I have always been vague about my personal life and it’s for a reason. I’d prefer to keep my private life just that… private. You followed a Bolly debut in Barfi! with two comedies and Happy Ending makes it a hat-trick. Does comedy come easier to you?

Not really. Any actor will tell you that comedy is very, very hard. I like to think that I am funny in real life but being funny on screen is tricky. You aren’t relying on making funny faces to make the audience laugh. To be funny on screen you need to have restraint and subtlety. My last comedy Main Tera Hero was more in the ’90s comedy space…everything was exaggerated and over the top. Happy Ending is a lot more subtle.

After years of being a successful actress in the south, is it easy to start afresh?

It’s not very difficult. I came to Bollywood to do something different. I was very successful in the south. When I signed Barfi!, people thought I was being stupid because I was in a film with an established actress (Priyanka Chopra). But I didn’t care. I want people to think of me as a newcomer. I want to be taken seriously as an actor and which is why I am here.

It was very weird to face the camera with him and to say dialogues to him. I think I was more nervous than he was! (Laughs) He did well in front of the camera. He was his regular cool and suave self — on boyfriend Andrew Kneebone’s cameo in Happy Ending

 

In a recent interview, you said that there were some south films of yours that made you cringe and you are going to be a lot more careful with what you choose here in Bollywood...

I started acting when I was just 17. I had no knowledge at all… I didn’t know the language or the craft. I couldn’t dance, act or even deliver the dialogues properly. I was like a deer caught in the headlights. In the films that I did at that point, I was just reacting to what was going on. (Pauses) I just sulked my way through my films. I didn’t enjoy the process and today when I see those films, it’s very obvious to me. I cringe when I see those films because I know I haven’t given them my best. As for my career here in Bollywood, I don’t know what kind of roles I want to do. There is no checklist of subjects, directors or actors I want to work with. I just know that I am going to be cautious about the kind of films I sign.

THE LAST TIME I...

 

Asin, your contemporary from the south, decided not to do any south films so she could concentrate on work in Bollywood while Tamannaah says there is no need to give up an established career. Which side of the divide do you fall on?

For me, there is no hard-and-fast rule. At the moment, I don’t have anything happening in the south. I just want to concentrate on establishing myself here. I want to make a career in Bollywood.

Karishma Upadhyay
Will Ileana make it big in Bollywood? Tell t2@abp.in