Would you say that you are staging your come back as an actor with Dil Bole Hadippa?
My last film was Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic directed by Kunal Kohli for Yashraj Films in which Saif Ali Khan was my leading man. I do not think that nine months is a long period to come back in films. I did not take up any offer because they were not substantial enough for me.

How did you prepare to get in to the skin of the character of Veer in Dil Bole Hadippa?
Though I used to be stiff after wearing my beard for the role of Veer, I picked up my brother Raja's style of dancing in both the songs which required Veer to dance. I had to compete with all the boy dancers at the back who danced with a lot of vibrant energy. It was very difficult to match their style of dancing especially since I am a petite girl.

Did you make it a point to learn cricket and be well conversant with the game?
Yes. It took me almost six months to learn the game of cricket. To get into the skin of my character in Dil Bole Hadippa, I had to learn the rules of the game and put my heart and soul into the game when I played it.

In fact, I was injured in a lot of places all over my body. I cannot even mention the parts of my anatomy where I was injured because it will sound vulgar.

I shed a lot of my weight to get into the mode of an athlete too. I enjoyed working in the film because it is happy and vibrant film.

In what way has your knowledge of cricket improved after working in Dil Bole Hadippa?
After working in a film like Dil Bole Hadippa, now I can say that I can enjoy watching even England play with Australia. Earlier I used to enjoy watching cricket only when India played with West Indies or Pakistan.

How did you work on the looks for both your characters in Dil Bole Hadippa?
My part as Veer required me to look like a real batsman.The fact that I had slimmed down for the film helped Manish style Veera in Dil Bole Hadippa. The production team sent the picture of Harbhajan Singh to my stylist to style me as Veer looking at his picture. Harbhajan told me that he was thrilled to know that he inspired my look.

How would you describe Anurag Singh who has directed the film Dil Bole Hadippa?
Anurag did not look like he was directing a film for the first time. He would never say no to one more take if Shahid or I asked for it. You can be a very closed as a newcomer director but he was not though it was his first film.

The best thing about Anurag is that he is an easy going and patient director. Anurag used to pray for us at every religious place that he went to while the shooting was on.

What is wrong with doing crying roles since you have always walked away with accolades for such roles?
The problem that I have always faced as an actress doing intense and serious roles is that people always used to come to me with similar roles almost to the point of slotting me with a set image.

The kind of roles that I was being offered were not the ones which would have added to me as an actress but to the producers who were offering me such roles and hence steadfastly said no to all the offers and stuck just to one film- Dil Bole Hadippa.

How practical are you when it comes to success and failure?
I am quite pragmatic, when I have to take success as well as failure. Look here. Success and failure is not in my hands. A film failing does not mean that I am a failure as an actor.

On the contrary, if a film of mine fails, it automatically makes me even stronger and stretches me beyond a point. Failure is also important for an actor because only if you are crushed will you be able to come up.

How would you evaluate your growth as far as your career is concerned from the time that you had made your debut as an actress with Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat till Dil Bole Hadippa?
I confess that over the years I have really grown richer as an actress right from the time I had made my debut with Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat.

Can you elucidate?
Fortunately for me, I have grown because I got an opportunity to work with not only great actors but also great directors. In any case, experience can get you only richer.

Whether it was Kamal Haasan in Hey Raam or Amitabh Bachchan in Black or for that matter Shah Rukh Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Chalte Chalte, I was always amazed to look at the wide range of their enormous talent and made it a point to learn from them.

I should say that it has been an incredibly rich career. Undoubtedly I have become a better actress after working with them than what I was when I had started out."

How do you react to the media linking you with Aditya Chopra?
I am very upset with the media for spreading rumors about my marriage. Every time a film of mine is about to be released, I am married off by the media. Thanks to my great family, which is my great support system, I am able to tackle such rumors, which is not easy otherwise.

How important is marriage to you?
I concede that marriage is very important in every girl's life, including that of mine, but the rumors make me look like a retarded girl and set out to test my intelligence.

I am a very levelheaded girl. I respect my privacy and would not like the media to push me to the point of testing me to that extent by keeping on running me down. I am not in a tearing hurry to get married.