Rakul Preet Singh opens up on Jackky Bhagnani, her 6 upcoming releases, rivalry in B-Town and more – Exclusive! – Times of India

With the number of COVID cases under control, theatres have opened up to full capacity and several movies have locked their theatrical release dates. Talking about the same, Rakul said, “I am very happy. I’ve been waiting for my films to come out because now it’s been 2 years of COVID and my last film was a while ago. The recall value of people in theatres is actually just ‘De De Pyaar De’, and ‘Sardar’ came on Netflix. To witness that energy of theatre, for people to see your work… In the first lockdown I was all calm. I said, ‘It’s okay, be grateful’ and all of that. The second lockdown I was also like, ‘It’s okay, it was very bad. Thank God you have your health.’ When the third one happened now, and releases again got pushed, I was like, ‘I don’t want to meditate and I don’t want to do this… I can’t, because it’s just that people need to see your work and now I have 6 films this year which are ready for release! I’ve finished shooting for all 6. So what happens is everything starts coming together, then you don’t know… you’re waiting for these films to come out, so you can choose scripts accordingly. Your career really depends on your films releasing, so it was starting to get to me. But I’m just happy that films are releasing.”

During the pandemic several films took the OTT route. Asked what would she choose between OTT and theatres, she said, “We become actors for the love of the big screen, so that will always be first love. Of course, OTT has its own benefits, the kind of content it’s pushing and the kind of reach you get globally, people can watch more stuff at ease, at a time that suits them and some amazing content’s coming out. So I’m for both, but I think both have their own charm. So it’s like you can order in, but you still like to experience the restaurant.”

Being in such a competitive industry can come with its own set of rivalries. When asked whether actresses can be friends in the industry or work together in a film, Rakul said, “Life’s to be enjoyed. See each one has their own role in the film. I’m not an insecure person. I’m not an insecure actor. I feel that everyone’s role will speak for themselves. I am not a person who believes people can’t be friends because only good competition pushes you to do better. I’ve always been of that belief, so if my peers are doing well even if we’re not co-stars in a certain film, say if there was Kriti Sanon’s ‘Mimi’ or Alia Bhatt’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, it only makes me happy and it inspires me to push my envelope. So I think it’s very inspiring when people do good work and I think people can totally be friends. This is all for gossip they say otherwise.”

Addressing the chatter around her love life with Jackky Bhagnani, Rakul said, “I don’t have to deal with it. It’s their job to talk and my job to not respond. I don’t even read it. I’m very honest about my personal life. If there’s something I thought I wanted to speak about, I spoke about it and whenever there will be a reason to speak about next, I will. Rest, what people are talking now, it’s not just my personal life. They’ll talk about something that you wear, something that you do, like they don’t like, but that’s not for me to read. I cannot do that. So I just take the good and I leave the rest.”