Anushka Sharma: I do not want to see if Priyanka Chopra’s role is bigger than mine in Dil Dhadakne Do

The actor says size of the roles don’t matter to her and mulls about risks taken…

Anushka Sharma returned to the screen after almost two years with PK. And in the coming year, she is about to change that and have three releases! Her upcoming films include her home production NH10, Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet, and Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do.

NH10

She’s visibly excited when you bring up her production NH10. She says, “It is a story that I thought needed a lot of backing. It is important for someone to make this story and I thought it was the best time for me to jump into production. I wanted to be involved with it completely. I have a lot of faith in the film and the director.” The content and the approach might be extremely unconventional, but not niche, clarifies Anushka.

International films always mesmerised her and that’s a major reason why she lapped up NH10. “I used to watch these foreign films and would be flabbergasted by what they did in those films. It left me thinking why are such films not coming to me? Rather why are these films not coming to anyone? That was the basic mindset before we took up NH10.”

Bombay Velvet

There have been reports claiming that Anurag Kashyap reshot Bombay Velvet, after his lead actor Ranbir Kapoor was said to be dissatisfied with the final product. The film has been repeatedly postponed for unknown reasons, adding more fuel to the fire. But Anushka bats for AK, “None of the scenes have been reshot.

It is just a promotional song which is left to be shot and we will wrap it up at the earliest. I was busy with PK and Ranbir was shooting for his film, so it could not fall in place,” says the actress.

Dil Dhadakne Do

At a time when actresses shy from doing multi-heroine films, Anushka is secure enough to try them. In Jab Tak Hai Jaan, she played second fiddle and managed to shine despite Katrina Kaif. Will DDD be the same, with Priyanka Chopra in the main lead? Anushka says, “I can tell you right now that in terms of length, Priyanka has a bigger role than me in the film. But that is not important for me at all. My role in the Dil Dhakne Do is extremely kickass! It’s something I haven’t done ever before. I do not want to see if Priyanka’s role is bigger or whether she is looking modern and more glamorous than me in the film. Yeh sab bohut sardardi hai and main nahi khel sakti.”

But she does admit that Zoya was apprehensive about approaching her for the role. She laughs. “Zoya was in total dilemma. She could not just call me and ask me to be on board because she was convinced I would say no! Farhan and Ritesh pushed her to at least approach me and find out. I was in Sri Lanka when she called. We met when I came back, and she narrated the story to me. After hearing it, I asked her, “Babe, why were you so scared? I am going to do this film.”

Talking about her plans, she reveals, “Once NH 10 releases and sets the ball rolling, I will get more into production because I love doing that. But all my production ventures won’t star me.” She still hasn’t zeroed in on a script. “We are looking at scripts. There are so many good stories that are waiting to be told but they do not get to see the light of the day because no one backs them,” she signs off.