Sonakshi reflects on her career, says she learnt ‘everything from scratch’

MUMABI — Sonakshi Sinha opened up about her career at the film industry trade show FICCI Frames here on Wednesday.

She remembered how, despite being Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter, she had no experience of being on a film’s set and no formal training in acting or dancing, starting off “:completely from scratch”.

Speaking at the 24th edition of FICCI Frames, the actress, most recently seen in ‘Double XL’, said: “Throughout my career, I have learnt through experience. I started off completely from scratch. I had no experience of being on a film’s set. I never visited my dad on sets when I was a child and I had no training in acting or dancing. I was not groomed for the profession. I was literally thrown into the deep end of the pool and was told to swim. That’s how I learnt.”

Sinha went on to talk about how experiences have steered her professional career arc.

“Every experience for me is something to be cherished. Every person I have worked I have learnt a lot from, which has got me to a point that where Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) comes to me, he has the confidence in me to offer me a role like that of Fareedan, who is very very complex,” Sinha said.

Sonakshi will soon be seen in SLB’s upcoming period drama series ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’. She made her Bollywood debut in 2010 with the Salman Khan-starrer action comedy film ‘Dabangg’.

Speaking about her journey as an actor, she said: “I have been working for the past 14 years and I have done all sorts of roles. I started off with these commercial masala sort of films, where it was always about the ‘hero, hero and hero’, which I am not complaining about because it really gave me an audience and a wide reach.”

Continuing on her career’s trajectory, Sinha said: “It gave me the confidence to shoulder films on my own as soon as I started playing really strong female characters, which were different from what I was doing, whether it was in ‘Akira’, ‘Noor’ or ‘Dahaad’. I consciously chose roles I had not played before, and that really pushed me and challenged me as an actor.”

She added: “So, when SLB sir came to me with ‘Heeramandi’, I was like ‘Thank you for imagining me like this’. It is really an honour when a director envisions you in a way that nobody has ever thought of you as. So, that is something that every actor craves for.”

Looking back at her career, Sinha said with a sense of satisfaction: “As a journey I wouldn’t change a thing. Every experience has counted and put me to where I am today. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have seen my ups and downs. For me, it was eventful, fruitful, a lovely learning experience more than anything else.”

Sonakshi ended by saying: “Every film set I go to I approach it like it is my first day on set. And that’s what keeps me going. I want to be a different person with every film. It keeps me excited about my job till today.”

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