On a Date with Anushka Sharma: Part 2

Throw a frisbee at the beach in my home town and it’ll bounce off at least a dozen attractive women. Maybe I just happen to live in a town with fairly high number of attractive ladies. Anushka Sharma, Read More">welcome to my home town. Imagine being a guide to a Bollywood celebrity who ain’t from Mumbai.Read More

Throw a frisbee at the beach in my home town and it'll bounce off at least a dozen attractive women. Maybe I just happen to live in a town with fairly high number of attractive ladies. Anushka Sharma, welcome to my home town. Imagine being a guide to a Bollywood celebrity who ain't from Mumbai. One never knows which way the she is going to crack open. But when the sexy Sharma opens her mouth, words spill, and then there are long pauses before many answers. It's hard to tell whether they signal deep thought, calculations of evasive action, or simply the paralysis of someone pausing over a dessert menu. Our menu for the day was a chocolate cookie and a frothy cappucino. She loves it, sips it and you see the froth line just over her upper lip which she gracefully takes off. We all do, don't we? She sits cross legged, then grabs the green cushion. She sits in comfortable positions, then her eyes glance at her publicist and her mother who sit at a safe distance and far away from her infectious smile. I keep looking at her motions. Anushka flows and how! She is refreshingly unpolished and that's what makes her a perfect date..

If you're an actress, the quest for a decent part on the screen is still a difficult one. For this towering beauty, she has managed to achieve that in her debut film itself - a decent part. The date continues. Some film talk, some army stories, a book she is reading, some newspaper gossips and some serious writing. And just minutes before I was about to leave, a more than just a decent writer herself, she allows me to access one of her very private write-up's which I patiently go through on her MacBook. She stands at the same place where I first saw her standing the moment I entered her room. For a minute she came across as a different Anushka Sharma. My eyes scroll through the write-up and at her when she talks about her dear uncle who is no more but all there in her room, in her writing and in her sub-conscious mind. I see her eyes just a bit moist but then so strong is this lady that she doesn't allow a tear to role down her cheek. Her sheer strength reflects in her writing and her eyes. "Are you going to take back the candle stand or shall we keep it?" Where did that come from? A voice across the bed asks me. That's Anushka's mother. Amusingly clever and humorous. In a split second, the room is filled with laughter. For the last time my eyes catch a glimpse of my beautiful 'date'. She is at her best again. She smiles and then laughs out loud. Bless her!

Devansh Patel: Do you cook food? Anushka Sharma: No, I don’t. It’s too tedious for me. DP: But it’s a good therapy na? AS: Apparently. But I’d just take a massage. DP: Ooohh AS: (laughs) Sorry, but it’s just too much for me to cut and cook. I like to bake cakes, cookies, Read More">etc. DP:Read More

Devansh Patel: Do you cook food?
Anushka Sharma: No, I don't. It's too tedious for me.

DP: But it's a good therapy na?
AS: Apparently. But I'd just take a massage.

DP: Ooohh
AS: (laughs) Sorry, but it's just too much for me to cut and cook. I like to bake cakes, cookies, etc.

DP: Have you got a sweet tooth?
AS: I am not. No. I like it because that's a bit bitter. It's a nice balance.

DP: Balance is..?
AS: ...is the key my friend. Balance is the key.

DP: I want to know where you shop from because all this while seeing you in the newspapers, television, internet and magazines, your great dressing sense comes across.
AS: You're saying this as if you'll come to my face and say - 'What a terrible dress you're wearing' (laughs)

DP: I'm a person who'll say it, be it anyone. Why not? If it's bad, it's bad. Believe me or not, I was going to wear my pink tee today. Now I'm thinking how it would've looked?
AS: Mujhse accha nahin (laughs)

DP: You were a model and now an actor. What sort of change have you noticed in both these professions so far?
AS: The only similarity between both these professions is that you need to look presentable in both. The hair, make up, etc. The difference is that out there you're presenting it for the designer and here you're doing it for your director. Secondly, there is a lot more pleasure when you are a part of the film fraternity.

AS: In India, I often wonder, why aren't our models treated as celebrities? They're not. I mean, you know Kate Moss, you know Naomi Campbell, you know Sindy Crawford, etc. Why don't we have names like them in our country? That's just so sad.
DP: I partly disagree with you because Madhu Sapre, Milind Soman, Mark Robinson, etc are still known. We know Jesse Randhawa too.

AS: But that was way back in the mid 1990's. What about today? What about the mid 2000? And the ones before the 1990? I just wish it was like what it is abroad.
DP: You know what, I think designers are celebrities in our country. But you're right in your own zone.

AS: I'm not saying that all should be well known across the globe but those who are really good, they should at least get that status. I'm a film old and look what they've done to me (laughs).
DP: We are going places now.

AS: Hence I'm saying that they should be known as celebrities.
DP: And now that GQ, Vogue, Elle, etc coming into our land, I'm sure things will improve.

AS: But how many models do you see adore the cover page?
DP: You talk too much, don't you?

AS: I don't know why but I am not good at listening. But you're the one asking me questions.
DP: Let's change seats then

AS: Ok. What made you choose this blue t-shirt you’re wearing for today’s date? DP: I guess because all my other t-shirts were in for a wash. AS: Ok, I can’t do this (laughs). Just let me talk (laughs) DP: No, Read More">but first you need to tell me how does my t-shirt look AS: ItRead More

AS: Ok. What made you choose this blue t-shirt you're wearing for today's date?
DP: I guess because all my other t-shirts were in for a wash.

AS: Ok, I can't do this (laughs). Just let me talk (laughs)
DP: No, but first you need to tell me how does my t-shirt look

AS: It looks so nice. Ok, let me ask you an honest question.
DP: That's good. Go on.

AS: Do you really think that media can make a star?
DP: It can break one too, you should remember that. But yes, we do.

AS: But it's a monopoly isn't it. You can choose to play what you want. I mean, you write what you want to.
DP: Media has become a monopoly in a way but now-a-days you can differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly.

AS: Yes, true. See, I've not been an actor for too long thus I can say this - Even actors are like normal people. You've got a wife or a husband to answer to, kids to answer to, parents to answer to and then the media writes things without even a confirmation. They quote their favourite sentence 'from a known source'.
DP: I completely agree with you Anushka. Things sometimes are taken for granted but it's not that all the media is at fault. There are a few of them who go by their own rules.

AS: It's not difficult to make a beautiful story without putting in the 'bakwaas masala'. I'm not saying that everyone does it. I respect some journalists and their work because they carry themselves with that dignity. I'm a huge Barkha Dutt fan because of Kargil and also because my father was in Kargil at that time. I am not only talking about entertainment journalism.

DP: This is becoming a very serious 'date' now.
AS: (laughs out loud) My tummy hurts more now.

DP: You are an army kid and every sentence or an answer has to have some sort of an army connection, isn't it?
AS: Yes. It's my identity. You won't believe this but even my publicist is an army man's daughter.

DP: How interesting
AS: It is....because we live in a different world all together. Our schools are in the army campus, the hospitals are there, everything is inside.

DP: I hope you find your man inside too.
AS: Where did that come from?
DP: I don't know. It just came out. But does that happen to you sometime when you talk something and you don't know where, how and why it came out?
AS: (laughs) I just say whatever comes to my mind. I am never on guard. I don't need to be because I'm heading the right way. I've got nothing to hide. I'm just too cool and love myself (laughs). I'm too straight-forward and people don't get that. Sometimes I get in trouble too.

DP: Justify it AS: like the other day, Tarika (my publicist) and I were in a trial with my designer and I asked her, “What’s your sun sign?”. Tarika replied, “Sagittarius”. So I turned and say, Read More">“That’s such a boring sun sign”. I just do these things. It just comes out and it’s fun too.Read More

DP: Justify it
AS: like the other day, Tarika (my publicist) and I were in a trial with my designer and I asked her, "What's your sun sign?". Tarika replied, "Sagittarius". So I turned and say, "That's such a boring sun sign". I just do these things. It just comes out and it's fun too. People who know me will understand.

DP: So what star sign are you?
AS: Taurus.
DP: You've hit the bull eye.
AS: Are you Taurus too? (After a long pause) No. You got to be kidding.
DP: What? I'm saying I'm Taurus and you're saying 'No'. I know better, right?
AS: What's your birth date?
DP: 14th May
AS: No.
DP: And you?
AS: 1st May.
DP: So let's party now
AS: Not bad yaar. But I hate parties.
DP: You'll be a very good socialite.
AS: I have the most boring social life. That later.

DP: Your mother is sitting in the corner of the bed, poor lady, just listening to all your bak-bak
AS: (laughs) I've got it from her (laughs) My mother can speak to everybody. She talks more than I do. But I can't talk to everybody. If I don't get along with someone, I don't speak at all. But if I get along with you, then you need to stop me.
DP: Stop! I pity your to-be husband and kids yaar.
AS: You know what?
DP: Yeah, go on.
AS: I'm going to tell my child, "Till the time you're twenty, do whatever you want. After that, you'll get ruined anyway".
DP: What about your life? Ruined na?
AS: No, I'm still living it, enjoying it and even better. I'm a Taurean and get along with Taureans. Haven't you noticed?
DP: What?
AS: That I click with people instantly. How old are you?
DP: 32
AS: Don't lie (laughs)
DP: Stop Anushka (laughs)