Mumbai : Her debut Bollywood film MS Dhoni: The Untold Story is yet to hit the screens but actress Disha Patani is already determined to cement herself in the industry as a performer and not just a “pretty looking girl”.
Disha, who already has a host of advertisements in her kitty, shot to fame with a music video featuring Tiger Shroff, released earlier this year. The actress says she was constantly getting offers for commercial roles in films, even before the music video, all of which she turned down as they were not challenging her to begin her acting career as a “performer”.
“I don’t want to come across as a pretty looking girl. Because it is very easy, wear good clothes, wear good make-up, and you’ll look good. I know my abilities. “I know I can do action, dance, but these are the areas I want to go later because I know I can do well in that. Performance is one thing which has to be good because you’re an actor,” Disha told PTI in an interview.
The 21-year-old actress does not have anything against commercial movies, but says being restricted to a mere “showpiece” is something which she is not comfortable with. “I want to do good work. I don’t want to be an eye candy. I don’t mind doing commercial films. Who doesn’t want to do a good dance film? But only where I have a strong character.
“Not just be there like a showpiece in the film. That’s something I want to stay away from. I know it is too early in my career to ask for, my first film isn’t out yet, but it’s something I believe in,” she said.
Disha, who already made her Telugu film debut last year and enjoys good fan following, is very clear that she doesn’t want to chase stardom. “I don’t want to become a star. I never wished to become an actor, even when I am here. When you decide to become an actor, you’ve to choose why you’re doing it.
“Are you doing it to become an actor or because you want to be famous? I am doing it because I love being in front of the camera,” she revealed. Her first Bollywood film, Neeraj Pandey’s “MS Dhoni: The Untold Story”, will see her playing cricketer Dhoni’s first girlfriend Priyanka Jha.
The actress auditioned for the film and after reading few scenes she was on board to play the character, without thinking how “big or small” her part will be. Very little is known of Priyanka, with reports that she died in a tragic accident in 2002 while Dhoni was in his early 20s, but for Disha it wasn’t difficult to play her.
“Neeraj sir was very clear, what he wanted from me, the character and the film. I did few readings with him before we started shooting. Also the fact that Priyanka was from Delhi, and I’ve studied in Delhi,” she said.
“I know attitude, so it wasn’t difficult to get the vibe of it. We were very clear, from day one, and that helped a lot,” the actress said. Recently, when Dhoni saw the film, he was speechless. Disha, who didn’t meet him to prepare for the role, feels it must have been overwhelming for the skipper to see his journey unfold on screen.
“He is not obsessed about himself, and he is shy too. For Dhoni, watching his journey must’ve been overwhelming.
Sometimes you don’t have to say anything. Silence speaks it all,” she said. Though she is playing Priyanka in the film, Disha draws similarities with Dhoni too in terms of being shy, and insists she finds it weird to watch herself on screen.
“I am a very shy person. When I see myself on screen I can’t digest the fact that I am there. It annoys me. I can’t watch myself, it’s weird. I was the most shy person ever. Till I was 15-16 years old, I didn’t have any friends, my elder sister was my only friend,” says the actress, who was the first runner-up in Miss Indore.
PTI