I deserve the body I have today, says Parineeti Chopra

You know how sometimes you like some people even before you meet them, and how most times, that changes after you meet them? That doesn’t happen with Parineeti Chopra. Based on her films, appearances, interviews, I found her to be a real, straight-forward girl with a sunny personality. That impression didn’t change after my first meeting with her.  She is in the news for her eye-popping transformation. Like everyone, I wanted to know how she did it. Yes, she went to the Mayr Health Centre in Austria, but she brushes that off as inconsequential. She insists there is no quick-fix to achieving a fab body. It took a year and a lot of hard work. Here she talks about gaining confidence, her next film and why she doesn’t regret losing Sultan.

You live in the city without your family. That can’t be easy.
Yes, I live alone. But it’s damn good fun. I love it. I have been living alone for 10 years now. It’s not just a habit, I have always been an independent person, so I have always enjoyed my own company,  been on my own, doing my own things. I like to do those kind of things. It’s always been like that.

Okay, let’s talk about the fabulous transformation. What spurred you to do it? When did you decide to go for it?
It was a year ago, I have always wanted to lose weight. I have always been overweight throughout my life, but I never wanted to go the gym.

You were overweight. It’s so strange you are saying that.  You were just not skinny. Kajol and Rani have the same body type as you.
Maybe, but I was not happy with the way I used to look. I didn’t have the confidence and the freedom to wear what I wanted. I was always restricted by clothes. I would see how I looked in photographs and on screen and constantly felt, ‘Oh my God, I wish I was looking better’. I always used to feel that and many people used to ask, ‘Are you comfortable with your body and are you trying to make a statement by your body type’. And I would be like, ‘Please, no, this is what I am’. I was really trying to lose weight, but I never went to the gym. I never worked out, I never did anything that would help me lose weight  and then last year, in January, I realised that I was not doing any films for at least the next six months and I have time as I had taken time off to work on my house that I bought last year.  I wanted to do it on my own so I took about eight or nine months off. And I said to myself, ‘I have time now and no excuses.’ So one day I just got up, booked a trainer and just started working out. And from February till June, I worked out like a maniac. I lost some weight. I made my first public appearance at IIFA and people were like ‘Oh f**k, you have lost a lot of weight.’

What did you wear?
I wore a black strapless gown, tight-fitting but people were like ‘Oh there is a body shape’. I would always wear clothes that would cover me up. I was always camouflaging.  Then June to November again I worked out very hard and made minimal public appearances because I really wanted to shock everyone. Before I knew it, 11 months ended and I released my photo shoot pics and said, ‘This is where I have reached and it’s taken me a year’.  A year of working out, taking care of my food, not being able to eat what I wanted, to just be motivated for a year, you can imagine, I mean I was only working on myself literally.  Day in and day out, I was working on myself.

Feel like a different person now?
Oh yes, I feel one hundred per cent like a different person. I’m more confident but I still look at my body and I’m like ‘okay, I still need to work on that’  but at least I can wear a sleeveless top if I want to. I can wear a dress if I want to, I can wear shorts if I want to… I have dropped so many sizes that I look like a different person and I did it healthy way, the right way. I did it at my own time and pace.  I feel that I did it in a true and honest way and I feel like I deserve the body I have today.

Your dressing style has become more sporty.
Has it? I don’t know if it’s sporty, but now, I just think that I am more comfortable with my body and maybe that’s why I am able to wear clothes that are slightly more out there. I feel more confident but it’s not like my taste in clothes has changed. My taste was always the same, but I couldn’t wear those things earlier. If I wanted to wear a pair of shorts or a short skirt, I would be like I’d love to, but I don’t have the legs for it.  Now at least I can. Earlier, I was constantly panned for my dressing sense. Unfortunately, I always used to agree with the fashion critics. I knew what they are saying was true and I blame myself for it.

Do you find it unfair that all actresses have to be a certain body type? Why is weight equated with talent? Actresses like Waheeda Rehman, Madhubala and Nutan never had to worry about their size.
I don’t think that weight is associated with talent at all. In fact, I was never questioned about my talent. I mean you just took the name of a certain kind of actress who succeeded irrespective. I don’t think talent and success has got anything to do with it.  But I do think a certain image does exist and I think it is the fittest version of you that appeals. I think that if you can lose weight and can look your fittest, you must. I knew that my body could meet that goal. I didn’t have one of those bodies that would always remain fat. I knew that if I worked on it, I’d see the results. I just had to give it time. There are so many people who work on themselves before starting out, before starting films. Before I began acting, when I was in London, I used to be humungous. So, I had started losing weight, but not for acting, I didn’t even know I was going to, at the time. It was that I had started losing a little weight, but I was still very big. Even after becoming an actor, I think it really didn’t enter my consciousness to  work on myself.
 
But it did last year and you did something about it.
Everybody used to tell me that if I lost weight, I’d look really good.  I knew that, but I didn’t do anything about it. I think there are certain moments in life that have to come from within. Last year, I think something just happened. It’s just like one fine day, ‘Okay, let’s start”. It was very tough the first two or three months, I didn’t lose so much weight. It was very slow and then suddenly, I woke up one morning and I could see the difference and then I got even more motivated. And then it went and went and then six months passed and then I felt, ‘Okay, now I feel like a different size.’ I was always objective about myself and I never like told myself saying ‘You are fine’. I was constantly struggling with clothes. I used to be like, ‘Oh God! I really want to wear that but I can’t, it will never fit me’. It was like that.  I think it was too limiting.
 
Are you almost fanatical about your diet and workout regimen now?
No, even now I am not. I have my moments where I just want to eat and I eat but then I feel guilty which I never used to feel earlier. In fact, I would get into the momentum of eating and then keep eating wrong. But now, when I eat one unhealthy meal, I zip my mouth for the next ten days. I have that responsibility in my head now. And I don’t even work out everyday. Maybe every other day or if I am not able to work out at all, for say, 10 days, I make sure that my diet is not wrong.

Would you gain weight for a role now?
I was asked this question so many times and I would very unabashedly say yes. I was like yes, yes, of course.  Now I feel scared because it’s taken me a long time. It’s taken me a year and I know what I have gone through in that year. It’s such a mind game for a person to really commit and do something which you don’t want to do. I think right now at least for the next four five films, no. Maybe one day when I forgive myself or something and I can let myself go, I will do it but right now it’s very tough for me to put on weight.

You haven’t faced a movie camera for a year. No insecurity?
Insecurity comes and goes. Some days you feel like,  Oh my god, everybody is doing films and I am not doing anything! But it was my decision, so I am at peace. I have not signed a film because I have had no choice. I was offered films all the time, but I didn’t care to do it because I knew I had to work on myself.

Do you regret losing any film?
No. Many films come and go.  Last year, I didn’t really sign anything. In fact, that led to t rumours of me doing many films which I was never even offered. These are things I had to deal with because I had decided not to do any films.

That’s quite a mature decision at your age.
Was it? I think it was because every actor’s journey is different.

Didn’t people tell you that a sabbatical is like career suicide?
Many people said I was doing a great thing, but many people said you are doing the wrong thing but I had to do what I had decided. I had to and for me the utmost thing was that I needed some peace of mind also.  Like I did literally my six films  back to back. I didn’t take any time off, I didn’t work on myself, I didn’t meet people, I let my health go, I let my body go, everything. So to take that time off just came at a beautiful moment when I was doing my house up.  I was concentrating on my house, I was concentrating on myself and I had to just go for it. It was very important, at least now, now at least when filmmakers look at me, they can look at me in different ways, they can see me doing different kinds of roles.

The general feeling is that actors hesitate to work with you because you overshadow them.
God, no. The first year, this news spread that I was overshadowing and all. Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, Ishaqzaade, Shuddh Desi Romance and Hasee Toh Phasee, I remember.. I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I mean I’m sure all of those actors I worked with themselves want to do a great job, I’m sure they are good actors if they are of a certain standing. I don’t know if that’s a good thing...

So the only option is to act badly.
(Laughs) Yes, I’ll act really badly, I mean I can promise that. I don’t know, maybe it’s a happy problem that people think that I am good, but I never worked towards overshadowing anyone.

Feel bad about losing Sultan? Adi really wanted you in the film.
Did he? I was never offered the role in Sultan, so I never know. I also used to read in the papers that Adi wants this and Salman wants this and Parineeti is in the film and people called to congratulate me. I was like ‘Why are you congratulating me?’ Adi never even spoke to me about it.

It is believed that your photo shoot was geared towards the Sultan role.
That’s ridiculous. I have always wanted to do a fitness shoot, I knew that whenever I achieved a certain body shape, I would do a shoot like that, so it was really strange. I mean, why didn’t people say that I did it for Don 3, why did they say I did it for Sultan? Also, why would I do a shoot for Sultan? I would go and stand in front of Adi. Who was anyway seeing me every day. He didn’t need to see a photoshoot.

QUICK BYTES

Beyoncé or Rihanna……
Oh Lord! Beyoncé

Love is...
Love is what love is. Love is life, I guess.

A quality that draws you to a man.
Simplicity, I think a simple guy and he is not very complicated.

A quality in a man that puts you off
If he is obsessed with himself, if he only talks about himself.

Parineeti as a  girlfriend is...
there for you one hundred percent, unflinchingly there.

Is there a Mr Perfect?
No.

Live-in relationships are… 
Cool.

One mantra  you live by
Live in the moment, you never know Kal Ho Na Ho.

Describe yourself in 5 words
Positive, energetic, funny, loyal, and lazy.

3 things you wish you had.
I wish I had studied films I wish I had a stronger will power in life and I wish I had the power of invisibility.

Three people you rely on blindly.
Adi, Maneesh and my brother Sahej.

Three moments you want to relive.
When I was offered my first film, when I fell in love with somebody, that was beautiful, relive when I got that National award, that was a very special day.

An average day in your life is...
Quite full of work nowadays, I mean work and then going home to chill, watch TV, sleep, have a long hot shower in my new house. If I was paid for being lazy, I would be a billionaire.