I can bet my money on this: If she is fatigued in an interview, she will never betray it and if an eager, insistent clot of journos are pushed towards her, she'll somehow manage to greet each well-wisher with a fractional recalibration of body language that suggests a wordless surge of elated surprise on her part: "Oh, it's you! You're the one". To achieve this effect, Anushka must appear, at every minute, to be not only the most interesting person in the room but also the most interested. She knows it isn't easy, but does it well even at a tender age of 21 and just one film old. People walk away feeling glowy, sated and privileged. I was one of them when I recall the first time meeting her.
I always knew at the back of my head that she will be a good company on a hot Saturday afternoon. I get a call from her publicist. We are supposed to meet at the JW Marriott around 3.30pm. I enter the hotel lobby, then call her publicist who takes me to her room.
But before we are about to enter Anushka's room, I clarify, "Are you sure she isn't tired after filming?" To my surprise, the publicist answers, "She's been waiting for your arrival since long. She is excited". "Am I late?" I quiz. "No. Just in time", came the answer. The door opens and there she was standing beside the huge glass window staring down the beach from her hotel room. The room brightens up with her smile, she offers on my arrival and even though she has been working since 7 in the morning, she still looks full of life, and that's evident from what she is wearing - a pink tube top going well with her blue rugged jeans. Pink, because it resembles her illustrious smile. I greet her and gift her. "What's this?" she questions. "A surprise gift to a surprisingly beautiful date", I reply. Like all my previous dates, she too tears the gift wrap apart and appreciates the brownish coloured sea shells which she unwraps from a separate pack and places very carefully on the triangle shaped candle stand. She adds, "This will go somewhere special in my new house which I've just bought". The last thing you want as a journalist is a drive-through 'date' interview that tends to give an actress the distant cordiality of a flight stewardess, smiling but with the defences firmly in place. Not Anushka, though. She's warm and frank and happy to talk with her big smile going places. She is ambitious and cheerful, capable of glamour but also expressive of a kind of a jolting common sense. She has a strong professional ethic, which she somehow balances with her domestic life. Within minutes....the chieftain takes over and I listen.
I always knew at the back of my head that she will be a good company on a hot Saturday afternoon. I get a call from her publicist. We are supposed to meet at the JW Marriott around 3.30pm. I enter the hotel lobby, then call her publicist who takes me to her room.
But before we are about to enter Anushka's room, I clarify, "Are you sure she isn't tired after filming?" To my surprise, the publicist answers, "She's been waiting for your arrival since long. She is excited". "Am I late?" I quiz. "No. Just in time", came the answer. The door opens and there she was standing beside the huge glass window staring down the beach from her hotel room. The room brightens up with her smile, she offers on my arrival and even though she has been working since 7 in the morning, she still looks full of life, and that's evident from what she is wearing - a pink tube top going well with her blue rugged jeans. Pink, because it resembles her illustrious smile. I greet her and gift her. "What's this?" she questions. "A surprise gift to a surprisingly beautiful date", I reply. Like all my previous dates, she too tears the gift wrap apart and appreciates the brownish coloured sea shells which she unwraps from a separate pack and places very carefully on the triangle shaped candle stand. She adds, "This will go somewhere special in my new house which I've just bought". The last thing you want as a journalist is a drive-through 'date' interview that tends to give an actress the distant cordiality of a flight stewardess, smiling but with the defences firmly in place. Not Anushka, though. She's warm and frank and happy to talk with her big smile going places. She is ambitious and cheerful, capable of glamour but also expressive of a kind of a jolting common sense. She has a strong professional ethic, which she somehow balances with her domestic life. Within minutes....the chieftain takes over and I listen.
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