Neither fame nor money attracted me, says Anushka Sharma

Excitement is on the high as Salman-Anushka-starrer Sultan is scheduled for release this week. Anushka, who has been in the news for sweating it out for the role of a wrestler in the movie and later, for slamming trolls on social media, speaks about her ‘period of fame’.

It is said she had to go on a special diet to perfect her wrestler avatar. “Yes, I was on a protein diet. I have been a vegetarian for the past two years and ate a lot of spriulina, paneer and green vegetables,” Anushka says.

It has been an eventful eight-year-old journey since her debut as the heroine of Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, directed by Aditya Chopra and Anushka owes it all to her first director.

“I have got good films and I am thankful to Aditya Chopra; he put a lot of faith in me. Whenever I work on any Yash Raj film, I feel that they believed in me and that’s why I have been able to be in films today. I had no connection with movies apart from watching them. My journey has been good and by God’s grace, I have not changed,” she says.

And Anushka surprisingly reveals that she was never after fame or money. “I didn’t come into films for fame and money; I wanted to work on the creative side. I have tried to do something out of the box. I have never done films out of temptation.”

After NH10, her production house has been equally successful and she has announced Phillauri. “I always wanted to produce films and do stories I believe in so that I could work on new and fresh ideas. It’s a bigger opportunity and a collaborative effort. As an actor you drop your fees, but as a producer you back your films somehow and try to balance it both ways. I have learnt not to regret any decisions. You have to see potential and opportunities. As a producer, you can do that and find the right people to do it.”

So, will she be seen making any regional cinema? “Regional films like Sairat are doing well. But for me, it’s all about comfort. As an actor, I am not sure I will be comfortable doing a film if I can’t speak the language.”

She shares a very good bond with Karan Johar. “Karan Johar is a huge achiever; he is so expressive and an institution in himself. There is so much to learn from him.”

Speaking of that, no one can easily forget his epic reaction to social media trolls, a similarity Anushka shares with her best buddy. She minces no words when she expresses her opinion on misogynistic social media users.

“I find people active on social media very negative. They are fed up of life and I feel sorry for them. They have so much hatred, but I have decided not to let them change my mood. Karan has written a very good column about this. If you have no compassion, you need to respect one another. I don’t need to respond to them, instead I choose to ignore. Ignorance is bliss; I even told that to Karan,” she says.

“I am a self-made woman who came from a normal background and I treat my acting career with a lot of respect. Women are doing quite well in various fields, be it in costume, direction, editing, production; they are working everywhere now. In fact, writers are also penning stories with female leads and the films are doing well at the box office. It is an interesting time and as an actress, I want to make the most of it,” she concludes.