“For me it’s not OMG! I have to put make-up on my face every five minutes. But she takes it all with a pinch of salt. Actors talk about getting pressured about looking presentable 24/7 and Jacqueline agrees that’s indeed the case. The talk segues to the industry’s obsession with looking pretty. I spent many a sleepless night worrying about my prospects,” she recalls with absolute honesty. I missed my family a lot and thanks to being alone and broke had to sometimes go without food. I shared the guest house with other five aspiring actresses. I travelled to Bandra and Andheri in local trains. “I started here in a guest house in Colaba. She looks back on her salad days with a sense of wonder. She’s happy that she’s got good films on hand, Dishoom and A Flying Jatt, being two of them. No one will back you if you are casual about work.” In our industry, a superstar or a super director appreciates hard work. Lots of people are talented but they don’t apply themselves fully. And of course, hard work too is important. “Even if you have a star boyfriend and a strong network, you can’t survive if you don’t have talent. Because filmmakers begin to trust an actor when they know that actor will go all out for their film.” They say an actress makes it big on the strength of either networking or having a star boyfriend but Jacqueline puts a premium on talent. ![]() Akshay once told me that since he never troubled anyone and worked very hard, he kept getting films even after many, many flops. I have to give my 100 per cent to my next film too. ![]() “Working with Salman Khan doesn’t mean I can just chill now and take it easy. Another thing she believes in is giving her 100 per cent no matter what. But you have to stay strong always,” she advises. “So many things can happen in a competitive industry. Like Akshay, she’s a complete outsider who made it big thanks to her tremendous self-belief. Akshay would practise his lines over and over again and even injured himself in his desire to excel.” It's never easy to do comedy and then switch to doing serious roles and back. “Akki starts work early and is home by evening after his eight hour shift. Today, I enjoy doing comedy.” The way she praises him, it feels like she’s the whole Akshay Kumar fan club rolled into one. The most important thing he taught me is to be besharam and just let go of myself while doing comedy. “Yes, now I am able to understand what’s going on." She smiles. ![]() She’s more comfortable with comedy now than before and says the audience has definitely noticed an improvement in her comic timing in Housefull 3. People are more united these days because that is what helps a person get most out of life.” People don’t have the extra energy to worry about other actors. “We have so much to do besides shooting - like social media, endorsements, events, appearances, styling. She laughs at that and says people today are more involved with their own lives. We discussed fitness, make-up, travel and fashion during the breaks and didn’t give the boys much attention.” It’s good to know actresses no longer have catfights on the sets. But after a while we girls bonded together and did our own thing. “They tried to prank us the first few days. Jaqueline reveals the guys were always looking for opportunities to prank the girls. It’s said there is a lot of mayhem on the sets of a comedy film and Housefull 3 was no exception. Abhishek, Lisa (Haydon) and Nargis (Fakhri) are like the new edition to the franchise,” she smiles at the fond memories she shared with the young team. “Akshay, Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish are the coolest trio I have worked with, especially in comedy. ![]() One of the reasons being her comfort level with co-stars Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh, having done three films with Akshay and four, including her debut, with Riteish before. She reveals coming on the set of Housefull felt like coming home. She had an item song in the first but had a proper role in the second and the third installments. The Housefull franchise has been lucky for her. With Housefull 3, she will have a fourth film in the 100 crore club. But the ex-Miss Universe Sri Lanka, didn’t let go of her dream. She was almost written off when her first film, Aladin (2009) failed at the box-office.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |