Sonakshi Sinha: How long can you play the good wife, sweet girlfriend?

Sonakshi Sinha

A Sanjay Leela Bhansali heroine - that's a tag Sonakshi Sinha admits she had been waiting for long. Now that it has come true, it has brought an outpouring of love. The actor is winning praise for her double roles as Rehana and Fareedan in Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. "My mom [Poonam Sinha] was overwhelmed with pride. For her, it was a dream come true to see me finally become a Sanjay Leela Bhansali heroine," she smiles.

Right now, she is soaking in the love, but it will be work calling soon. Sinha, who was shooting for a yet-untitled thriller helmed by debutant director Karan Rawal last month, will return to the set next week. "Contemporary, dark and grungy", the thriller is worlds apart from Bhansali's dazzling period drama. "It has been my conscious effort to choose work that people will be surprised to see me doing. It's too early to talk about my role; all I can say is it's an edgy and grungy story."

It's easy to see a shift in Sinha's choice of work. She may have spent the early years of her career romancing the hero in masala films - from Dabangg (2010) to Rowdy Rathore (2012) and Action Jackson (2014) - but now, she is done playing second-fiddle. "It was a conscious decision I took after Akira [2016]. It was liberating to shoulder a film, and it's the path I have taken after that. Today, I'm getting author-backed roles, whether it's Dahaad [2023], Double XL [2022] or Heeramandi." Leading female-centric subjects in an industry full of potboilers would mean fighting her way in a man's world. "I had my own challenging journey as there is a pressure to choose commercial entertainers. But I took the step at the right time in my career. The mainstream films I did before gave me the power to branch out on my own and do what I really wanted."

And what does she really want now? Antagonist roles, especially after she played the crafty mother and vengeful daughter in the Netflix series. "I love playing dark characters because they are so different from what I've been doing. It's nice to break away from positive roles and do the complete opposite. How long can you play the good daughter, good wife or sweet girlfriend? It's good to be bad sometimes," she grins.