Cineblitz March 2009
Extract from the interview:
Not A Girl...Not Yet A Woman
As a child Sonam would go to any lengths to grab attention. You could make her sing, dance and talk for hours. Not much has changed since then, finds out Nishi Prem. Sonam is still very much the little girl trying to play adult and worldly wise in an adult world.
“Variety is the spice of life. I have a crush on everybody. I go through these phases, like, I’ve never had a solid thing on one person. But as an actor I respect Aamir.”
The beauty of youth is that it refuses to sit in one corner for too long and that it is not obligated to take on stances and that, whatever a joker called Muthalik might have to say, it has a fundamental right to gay abandon. Sonam Kapoor exercises her rights to the fullest. She doesn’t look over her shoulder before she speaks. She says it like she sees it. No doubts, no nervousness, just a bubbling sense of expectancy. Willing to take on whatever life might throw up. After all, how bad can it be when you are Anil Kapoor’s daughter? And you have DELHI 6 on release, with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Abhishek Bachchan?
Ranbir, Deepika and you started out exactly at the same time, yet there’s much more buzz around them than you. Is that intentional?
No, I mean, I guess everyone has their own path. I’m doing one film at a time. I don’t have controversies to get me the headlines. I just feel that if you have to be spoken about it should be because of work, if you’re working on something, or working at something or working for something. To be written about for ridiculous stuff, I find that hard to appreciate. It’s in bad taste but each to its own. Ranbir has had two releases, SAAWARIYA and BACHNA AE HASEENON, and he has many films on the floors. Deepika has had three releases and she too has films on the floors, so they have to do their promotional stuff. I do only one film at a time. I have that luxury of choice, I don’t need to do five films a year, I don’t need to earn my bread, I don’t need to run my house or pay my car bills or any of those things. I mean, I do pay my bills but I don’t have to, if you know what I mean. I pay my phone bill, I pay the EMIs of my car, my driver, for tax purposes, but I still have the luxury of choice. I can do whatever the hell I want to, or not do…
Deepika was launched with great fanfare and glamour, whereas yours was a controlled, restrictive kind of…
That was not the character of our film. SAAWARIYA was not a flamboyant film. It was a great film to be part of, and a great launch, whatever anyone might say. And it is because of that, that I got a great second film and a great role in my second film. People look at me as an actor and more than just a pretty face. That’s my gain. And I don’t want my dad to open the papers and say ki ‘yaar aise kya likha hain paper mein’. I’m answerable to them.
An actor can’t avoid being written about.
In that sense, my parents always know what I’m doing, where I’ve gone and what I’m up to. They know what time I’m going, what time I’m coming back. My parents let me do whatever I want to as long as I’m aware of my limits. And I feel responsible about not letting them down.
Your mum’s supposed to be the tough one. She lays down the dos and don’ts at home, which even Anil does not have the courage to go against.
She is particular about certain things and extremely chilled out about others. Rhea and I have always been encouraged to say exactly what we feel. We have our own opinions about what we want to do and how things should be done, and she’s given that leeway to us, but at the same time she’s the director of our life. Like there’s a director of a film, she is the director of our life. If she feels we’re going wrong she’ll just check us. Mom just sees things in black and white when it comes to her family. There is no grey for her. There is right or wrong, nothing in between. In this industry sometimes you feel ki chalta hai, but she won’t allow that. She’s extremely protective of her family, us and Dad.
Is it true that you stopped being friends with Kunal Kapoor because of pressure from family?
Not at all! What pressure from family?! I don’t even know the man! I’ve met Kunal Kapoor, like, twice in my life!.............
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Author : Nishi Prem
Photography: Atul Kasbekar
Styling: Jayanti, Makeup: Namrata
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