‘Kesari is a bucket-list film for me’: Parineeti Chopra

Like her Kesari co-star Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra, too, is a morning person. The earlier, the better. The actress believes she is raring to go, thanks to morning vibes. “Right now, I am dependent on my team, co-stars and shoot timings etc, but if things were left to me, I would start my day at 6 am (which I try to do). Then I am done by 2 pm and have the whole day to do what I want to whether it’s going for a swim or meeting friends,” she says.

On the day we meet her, she is looking radiant in a red one-shoulder top teamed with a white pencil skirt and it’s difficult to believe she has been up since 4 am. “Yeah, people were like, ‘you started your day at 4?’ But it’s not even a discussion for me, you know,” she states.

Pari, who was touted to be the ‘next big thing’ when she started her career with movies like Ladies vs Ricky Bahl (2011) and Ishaqzaade (2012), went through a low phase with Daawat-e-Ishq (2014) and Kill Dil (2014) flopping back to back. After a brief hiatus, she came back all guns blazing with a svelte bod and an item number in Dishoom (2016). Golmaal Again (2017), one of the highest-grossing movies of all times, put her back in the major league. Now, with Kesari, which is based on the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, and a few more movies lined up, the 10-film-old actress tells us about her learnings on the way...

You have said in earlier interviews that you were happy to be a small part of Kesari. Is it a redundant question then to ask if the length of the role matters anymore? 

I think with this particular film, that discussion doesn’t hold for me. I just wanted to be a ‘part’ of this movie, pun intended (smiles). I didn’t ask Karan Johar (who is the producer) to tell me how long my screen time is. I just heard the story and said yes instantly. I wanted to do it, so that 50 years from now, I can proudly say that I was a part of Kesari. It’s one of those bucket-list films. I wish I had some action sequences, but it was amazing to be a part of the love story of this plot.   

The trailer has received a tremendous response...

It is an incredible tale! It’s set over just two days and the most amazing part is that it’s a true story. These people actually existed. When I was reading it, I kept exclaiming, ‘Are you serious? Did this really happen?’ Of course, it’s been dramatised and told in an incredible cinematic, entertaining way. More than anything, Kesari is about patriotism and the strength of these men. There is a scene in the film where somebody suggests that this is a bad time and we should run away from the fort. You know what their response is? The men start laughing! Running away is the most bizarre thing for them. That’s the strength of this movie.

Apart from bonding with Akshay over starting the day early, how was the experience of working with the superstar?

I think he doesn’t realise how big a star he is, and I have been telling him from day one. I keep telling him in Punjabi, ‘Twanu maloom hi nahi hai tussi kaun ho’. He’s so real, so unfiltered that it shows the purity of his heart. He is not here to play games. 

There are actors who are selfish and try to manipulate, but Akshay isn’t like that at all. My relationship with him has developed to such an extent that I can ask him anything. It’s like talking to a friend. He is the senior, he is the one who can have that aura and a disconnect with people, but he goes out of his way to make everyone a part of the team. Just today, he was telling me that ‘I don’t understand how anybody can think that this is just my film. It’s always teamwork. Main kalle jaake uthhe ki karanga (what will I do on my own standing there?) A film is when I’m part of this 400-people team that is making the film’. To have that attitude constantly is so helpful, because then I might be a five-film-old actress or he might be a 400-film-actor, but he and I are on equal footing when we are in a scene. 

Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra in Kesari

You now have Jabariya Jodi with Sidharth Malhotra and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar with Arjun Kapoor. What are your expectations from them?

I have no expectations. This is one of the things that I have learnt over the years. Till the release day, I don’t know about the film’s outcome. 

Because there are times I have thought this is a silly movie, everybody will laugh at it and it’s become a huge hit. And then I have thought this is a good project, it will do well, but it’s flopped. So, I have stopped expecting.

Is it true that you are doing SS Rajamouli’s RRR?

Hmmm (laughs). I am announcing two more films this week. That’s all I can say.