Here in Bollywood, no one is your friend: Neha Sharma

Playing the future Prime-Minister’s demanding girlfriend is not an easy role. The very pretty Neha Sharma had a tough time relating to her “borderline annoying’ character in Youngistaan. Luckily for this 26-year old Bihari girl playing not-so-sweet characters isn’t a new experience. Says Neha, “In my movie debut Chirutha in Telugu in 2007, I played the villain. My character was so unpleasant I asked the director Puri Jagganath why he thought I was suitable for it.” It wasn’t as if Neha sought a movie career. “Chirutha just fell into my lap. Like thousands of other small-town girls I was just another aspirant from Bhagalpur hoping to make something out of my life. I came to Delhi to do a course in fashion designing. While studying I did a bit of modeling. That’s how Puri Jagannath saw my pics and called me. I was game for a movie career. Besides, the film gave me the chance to travel abroad. It was shot in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. That was incentive enough for me to do the film.” But to start her movie career with a negative character was tantamount to professional suicide. Laughs Neha, “Every well-wisher advised me against it. No actress in Telugu cinema who has played a negative role at the start of her career has been accepted as a goody-goody heroine. I took the risk, and it worked. I became the first Telugu debutant to get mass acceptance in a negative role. In comparison my character Anwita Chauhan in Youngistaan was a piece of cake. Or should I say... a gulab jamun?” The laughing reference is to Neha’s co-star Jackky Bhagnani’s statement in Youngistaan that he prefers gulab jamun when asked if getting the Prime Ministerial job was a piece of cake for him. Laughs Neha, “Jackky’s job in Youngistaan is really tough. He is thrown into this crisis where he must take over as the Prime Minister. For his girlfriend I thought of how difficult the situation is for my character. On paper the role was very scary. I could’ve ended up looking like a nag and a pest. I had to find the compassionate core in her. I played her as very real. It was challenging.” Neha is hoping Youngistaan would bring her the kind of recognition that is working towards. “I did get my first film easily. But since then it hasn’t been an easy journey for me. Once I did a couple of Telugu films I wanted to move to Bollywood. That’s where the struggle began. Though I bagged Crook with a big banner (the Bhatts) and with a top leading man Emraan Hashmi the film didn’t do well.” Neha says she is proud of every film she has done so far. “Though Crook didn’t work I think it was a good film. Kya Super Kool Hain Hum received a lot of flak. But it was a commercial success. That’s what counts in the film industry.” She still feels like an outsider in Bollywood. “I don’t think I’ve found wide acceptance. I don’t even think the big banners know about me. But I am still trying to find my bearings around here. It isn’t easy since I am very conservative at heart. Back home in Bhagalpur we were a very non-filmy family. We didn’t know much about movies except Mr Amitabh Bachchan. And we knew about Sanjeev Kumar because he was my mother’s favourite actor. My three siblings were all into academics. And two of them are now settled in Chicago.” Neha’s mother has accompanied her daughter in her journey to stardom. “My mother has sacrificed her own life with my father to be with me. We are a very close-knit family. My father religiously calls me every day to ask about what I am up to. I am very close to my siblings. And we’re constantly connected. So I don’t miss having friends in the film industry.” Though Neha loves Mumbai city she is still wary of Bollywood. “No one is your friend here. Everyone is here to do her work. I am still searching for a meaning to this industry beyond the boxoffice. Luckily I got Youngistaan just in time. I am hoping it would be a turning-point for me.”