New Delhi: Rakul Preet Singh is one such celebrity in Bollywood who has made a significant impact because of her persistence and commitment to her work. Rakul thrilled the audience again with her newest OTT film, ‘I Love You’. The actress recently gave an interview in which she discussed the importance of ‘good content’ and work-life balance. She shared details about her life outside of work, including how she deals with toxicity. Rakul, who is now seeing the actor Jackky Bhagnani, has said that she is not ready to be married.
Rakul discussed a wide range of topics in an exclusive interview with ABPLive.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Tell us about your latest movie 'I Love You'.
It's a romantic thriller. It's a twisted romance, it's a very fast-paced, fun, young and edgy film and I loved it from the script level itself.
Sometimes you're a cop, sometimes you are a teacher, and sometimes you're a doctor. Do you carefully choose something different every time, or is it just luck?
It's a little bit of both. Yes, my thought and my wish are to be able to do versatility in different kinds of roles and just be another person in every film. I feel a profession is so lovely to be able to give you that opportunity - to play different people and I want to be versatile. I want to do commercial movies and then I want to do films like ‘Doctor G’ or ‘Runway 34’. Having said that, I can only do it if these films come to me. So, somewhere, it's a mix of both - what I give out to the universe, it happens.
Any south India or pan-India movie where we can see you next?
Yes, there will be two films. One ‘Ayalaan’, which is with Sivakarthikeyan. It is coming out this Diwali. Then, there's ‘Indian 2’ with S. Shankar sir, which is also in the process of filming.
Do you think the audience who watch OTT are more accepting in terms of content or is it difficult to make them click that next episode or make them watch a movie?
No, I don't look at it like that. I feel engaging an audience irrespective of the medium that the film is on - whether it is OTT or theatre, you will only be able to engage audiences if the content is good.
In today's day and age, people will come to the theatres if they are excited about your trailer, otherwise, they won't spend that money. They will also click on your film if the trailer excites them. Nobody has time for something that doesn't make them inquisitive and I feel the content is king in today's time. So, irrespective of the medium, the content has to be good.
What's your method as an actor?
I think you definitely have to get into the skin of the emotion that the character is carrying through the film, but, it's always different for different characters. Sometimes a character doesn't necessarily require you to do too much prep.
There are nuances that you pick up for particular characters. If I have to say for ‘I love you’, it's by far one of my toughest films to shoot and the most exciting I would say.
There were portions of the film which were extremely emotionally draining. We were shooting them in one go and my body started reacting in a way that I was truly depressed. After about 7-8 days of the shoot, I was just sleepless and couldn't digest food. My nutritionist said that your mind believes that you're sad. This is the first time something like this happened to me.
Before this film, we had a two-week workshop where the entire plan was to unlearn everything that we knew. Atul Mongia who did our workshop used a technique to not use the craft of acting but use your real emotion. He would poke you till you really break down until you tap on a part of yourself that lets you feel that vulnerable.
Subconsciously, I was using real emotions which is why my body reacted the way that it did. This was such a huge learning. It gave me so much satisfaction as an actor to do something differently.
After finishing those 15-20 days of schedule, I just left the city for three days and you wouldn't believe, I landed and could digest food suddenly.
You really take care of your body. How do you maintain that discipline?
I feel nobody can tell you to be disciplined. It's a part of who you are and you have to ask yourself - Why? For me, the only place we live in is our body. We can clean our houses but we don't want to keep our bodies clean. How is that fair?
Discipline is engrained in me also because of my army upbringing. So, I can not be disciplined. I can't have a lazy day even if I want to.
I'm doing it for myself. I like to be healthy. I like to be a certain way. I want to be fit. I want to have a long life and a healthy one. Not just a long ailing life.
Was that a switch to a healthy lifestyle or were you always like that?
I was always like this because again because my father is from the army and our upbringing was healthy and balanced. Sports were given a lot of importance. In my house, you have to eat everything. As kids, if you ever ended up saying I don't want to eat this, they would just say for two days you just have to eat this. So, out of hungry you’ll eat and learn to appreciate food. So, I think that discipline comes from there. It's so ingrained in my system that it's just a part of who I am.
You always sound so positive and confident. What kind of environment do you create in your life and personal space to maintain that positivity?
It's always a conscious effort or awareness to know when to say no to negativity. I don't engage in anything that really serves me nothing or not going to add any value to my life. I like to keep my life clutter-free.
I have a very close group of friends who help me disconnect from the work life. My friends are not from the industry so to them, I am their friend Rakul who's been for so many years irrespective of what I do professionally. So, I can be myself. I can fall on the floor and laugh, I can do things that I want to do and there is no judgment.
It's very important for everyone to have that work-life balance and to have a disconnect from the workspace. Never carry your work back home. Working out and eating healthy all of that affect your state of mind. I just live my life with as much freedom of mind and hassle-free ways as I can.
What do you do on days when you feel low?
The thing is you need to be aware that you are low and not be okay with it. Yes, there are days that I am low like any other human being you know it does affect you when so many things and when you're a public figure even more.
Whenever there's something that's bothering me I sit by myself sit and I tell myself if I'm feeling bad about it - this is not right. I cannot let things affect me. So, there's a conscious work you do and meditate.
Do that five minutes of calming yourself down. It's very important to not brush your emotions under the carpet. It's important to sort of chat or talk to yourself, but be aware that you're not feeling in your element.
If you like a sport, go play that sport, if you want to watch a film, go watch a film, distract yourself or talk about it, but heal it - don't let it go unnoticed.
Are you satisfied with the kind of work you are getting?
I am always grateful for the work that I'm getting because I know where I started, which was zero. But, Am I hungry? Yes.
I'm happy, but I'm never satisfied because the day you were satisfied that you will be laid back. I am very hungry for work. I can work 360 days.
Why so much hustle? Do you ever feel like Let me just sit down and relax?
My Twitter header says, 'Build a life you don't need a vacation from.' Acting is not just my profession, it's my passion. When you are pursuing something that is your passion, you don't think like you're working it never exhausts you
On the contrary, when I'm not working or if I have like too many days when I'm not shooting, I don't know what to do in my life. Because there is a sense of joy that comes from pursuing your passion and which is why everyone says that pursue your passion and make your passion your career.
I feel whenever you're doing something you love you never feel pressurised and I don't.
Going by the latest trend of celebs opting for intimate weddings, what plans do you have?
The media has already gotten me married twice. November last year and February this year. I've always been a very vocal person and there is anything I will speak about it, but there's nothing right now.
Your idea of India in 2047 - 100 years of independence.
I hope that till 2047 we're still not telling people to be aware of environmental issues. If this is the way it continues to 2047, we won't have drinking water. So, I really hope that in 2047, we have reversed the environmental damage and we're living in a pollution-free India. We still have many years to go, I hope that citizen becomes responsible and starts taking care of the planet. There's no point in just living those years if you're living in toxicity.