Sonam Kapoor’s 'fundas'

Actor and youth icon Sonam Kapoor, as DNA guest editor, fields questions relating to the casting couch in B-Town, being a momma’s girl and more. Excerpts...

You are known for your fashion sense, so much so that apparently many actors are intimitaded by your style and feel insecure sharing screen space with you. How do you react to that?
Really? No, I don’t do that to people! But (if I do) that’s so cool (laughs)! Umm… but I don’t think I intimidate people. I honestly don’t know what it is. I could be wearing a T-shirt and jeans and people would be like ‘Oh my God! That’s designer’ and I’m like ‘It’s not’. I can’t afford that much. Trust me. I like to wear things well, even if it’s from Colaba Causeway. For example, this skirt (the one  she’s wearing) is actually just for 12 dollars, it’s a vintage skirt. But everybody thinks it’s from some big brand. You just need to enjoy what you’re wearing and be confident about yourself. Then things automatically start looking good on you and it doesn’t matter whether you are thin, short or fat. As long as you’re not aping someone,  you’ll automatically look good.

How do you handle the fame and attention when you step out, on the streets with your friends or family?
You know, I think I’m the luckiest person in the world. I keep on touching wood. I’m very lucky because I’m 25-years-old, I make my own money, I’m not dependent on my parents for anything and I’m having a great time, I’m travelling everywhere. I live in Mumbai and I go wherever I want to. If I want to go to the cinema, I go with my friends. In Mumbai, nobody gives a damn!

So you don’t have people going crazy over you?
No, no! Only when I’m in places where the public is not used to seeing celebrities. But in Mumbai, I think there are much bigger stars than me and people don’t go crazy over them — why would they go crazy over me?

Are you still a daddy’s girl?
I’ll always be my mom’s girl. My sister is my daddy’s girl though. My dad thinks I’m his girl but I think all dads think that.

So, can we let him into your little secret that you’re mommy’s girl?
He knows it. I mean subconsciously he knows it, it’s just that he doesn’t want to admit it to himself.

A very clichéd question — when you select a film, what is it that you look for in it?
I don’t think — I mean everything that I’ve done is completely different. Like, I have not come here thinking that I’ll be the ace actress in the world and all that nonsense. Like they say in the Gita, ‘If you think about the future and you reminisce the past all the time, you can never concentrate on the present.’ So you’ll never be able to enjoy what you are doing at the moment. So I can’t plan my life and have a five-year-plan or a 10-year-plan charted out — which all the books tell you to have. I’ve never gone the conventional route, ever!

Do you think that  money has made the industry more professional?
Money, and it’s become more of a business, there are a lot of corporates, and there’s too much media today. Everybody gets a wind of everything.

Would you say the casting couch exists?
I don’t  know. I’ve never experienced it. But I know that the casting couch doesn’t only exist in the Indian film industry, it exists everywhere. So to blame just the Indian film industry is extremely incorrect. It could be an assistant and an editor, it could be anybody. Anybody who has the power can abuse it.

It can also be the other way round, right? Like the woman on top…
Yeah. I’ll totally abuse my power (laughs).

Do you believe that dealing with a women boss is more hard than dealing with a male boss?
No, I’m 100% sure. I’m 5000% sure that is not the case.

Do you think women are more complicated?
Not at all! Men have tunnel vision. They don’t have a broad view of things. So, women — because they are mothers — they can deal with children. So being a boss is like dealing with children. I have few — two or three employees with me and I feel like I’m their mom even though I’m younger than them. There’s a certain way of giving your message out. I have to say, ‘Okay, you did this wrong and don’t do it again. But you did extremely well over here.’ I know because my mom used to talk to me in that manner (laughs). Men are great too! They can be great bosses as well. But they are very easily manipulated. Women understand (laughs).

If you were to identify with one of the yesteryear Bollywood actors, who would it be and why?
I love Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Nargis, Meena Kumari and Madhubala — I absolutely love Madhubala. They all did films that showcased their talent and they had films which now-a-days are branded as women centric films. But they tend to forget Bandini, Sujatha and Guide. Even Pakeezah, or Mughal-E-Azam — it’s all about the women, about how strong they were, emotionally and physically.

If these actors could do it 40 years back, at a time when apparently women didn’t have that much of a say, then why can’t we do it now! And why is it such a  big deal if a Fashion an Aisha or a 7 Khoon Maaf comes out? I identify with those actors because I feel they sort of made a space for female actors. Now we can do a Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, we can do a Guide… I want to do Guide one day! Yeah, so that’s why I look up to them.