Girl on the Go

Ileana D’Cruz

Ileana D’ Cruz first set things aflutter when she was signed up for a meaty role in Anurag Basu’s Barfi!, a role that had reportedly been turned down by Katrina Kaif as it wasn’t the author-backed role. The coup, however, was that D’ Cruz landed herself an A-list film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. And, the film went on to become a Rs.100 crore plus hit despite being a rather unusual love story.
D’ Cruz, who hails from Goa is no stranger to success. She’s got a slew of South Indian hits like Pokiri and Kick on her resume. It was perhaps also the reason that she exuded a calm confidence, despite being new to Bollywood. On the sets of Barfi! in Mumbai’s Chandivali studio, she kept to herself, but hardly seemed intimidated by her co-stars or the goings -on. And things haven’t been any different since, after Phata Poster Nikhla Hero, (in which she shared screen space with Shahid Kapoor), turned out to be a disappointment, the big question was whether she’d meet the same fate as several other actresses from the south film industry trying to make a foray in Bollywood. So, it was quite a triumph when earlier this year she landed a major hit in Main Tera Hero toplining her opposite Varun Dhawan.
Even though, the recently released, Happy Ending, a romocom with Saif Ali Khan has opened to lukewarm response at the box -office, the film is unlikely to alter her position. According to trade expert Komal Nahta, an expert in analysing the box-office potential of an actor, “Ileana is a good actress and has put in a very earnest performance in Happy Ending, which clearly makes her a viable option. But a minimum of at least two to three successive hits will be required for her to make it to the big league. After one or two weeks, it is the business of the film that takes over and if the film does not hold its own at the box-office, then good performances are forgotten. The bright side is that she’s had a hit in Main Tera Hero which should help her tide over.”
Raj Nidimoru who directed her in Happy Ending opines that, “Ileana has a lot of experience down south, but there was freshness to her vis-a-vis Hindi films which we wanted for the role of a writer. We wanted to cast someone who does not fall in the quintessential glamorous space—she’s sexy because she’s smart, and not because she is doing the song and dance routine. And, Ileana fit in well with that role.”
D’Cruz plays Aanchal Reddy, a young author who writes romantic novels and yet thinks of love as an inconvenience. She says, “I was very worried, but Raj and DK calmed me down.”
D’ Cruz admits that when they called her manager to approach her for the film, it was a no-brainer as she’d watched their earlier zombie film titled Go Goa Gone which according to her was “Bloody genius. By far the most fun and quirky film,” she’d watched in a long time.
“I would have done this film no matter what the role, because I liked the quirkiness of it, ” she says.
Of her stint in Bollywood she says, “The fact that everything has changed so much and that directors are taking such risks is nice.”
Happy that she is already landing plum roles in major productions, D’ Cruz describes the Bollywood adventure as both nice and unpredictable. Not that she’s complaining though. And she’s definitely not letting it cramp her acting style.
Working with Saif Ali Khan, she admits, was fun. “He would give me tips and then very politely ask me to check with the directors too.” For instance, in one scene when I was scrunching my face too much, looking perplexed, he pointed out that it wasn’t the best thing to do.”
Among Hindi romcoms, Cocktail, starring Saif Ali Khan was a film that she liked very much. Besides, she also enjoys love stories by director Imtiaz Ali. Films in the south, she admits are more pronounced when it comes to a display of emotions while Hindi films, especially those catering to an urbane audience, she observes, are far more muted, a space that she quite enjoys.
Quiz her on doing the social rounds in Bollywood’s high-powered circles in order to land more work, and she shrugs off the idea. “At filmi parties, I don’t know too many people and then again, I am not very social. I can’t be two different people just to socialise. Besides, I feel, parties are passé. But a conversation may help because it gives a person an insight into your personality, especially since roles of late are very well written and require you to do more than look pretty.”
Much like the GenNext heroines, the actress is quite at ease with her contemporaries and their fast rising career graphs. “I love how Alia (Bhatt) has shaped up. She’s such a baby, but there’s a spark in the way she performs and a certain purity about her,” she says.
D’ Cruz, however is not doing too badly for herself on the new turf. She feels quite at home in Mumbai and has been cooking up an occasional ‘storm to de-stress’, she admits.
“Cooking is therapeutic, but cleaning is pretty stressful,” she chuckles, adding, “Actually, the only stress at this point is to dress appropriately. What am I going to wear, is the toughest question. But in order to make life easier, I have finally got myself a stylist.”
With that sort of an easy going approach and what Nidimoru describes as, ” an ability to be hard working and not give up unless the shot is to the director’s satisfaction,” the actress is on a good wicket. “She was in the topmost position in Telugu cinema, for a while and has the looks and the acting ability to be among the top rung heroines in Hindi films as well,” remarks Nidimoru.
Two major hits, a stylist and a good manager in place, D’Cruz’s Bollywood saga, we predict is likely to have a happy ending.

priyanka.sinha@expressindia.com