Bollywood diva roots for the right to vote

With Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi when this dusky beauty from Meerut appeared on the silver screen in 2005, she was critically acclaimed for her performance. A series of comebacks define her Bollywood journey that cascade from realistic cinema to mainstream potboilers and even item songs in movies such as Joker.

As she campaigns for MTV’s Rock The Vote campaign, Chitrangada Singh inspires first- time voters to go out and exercise their franchise. “With some interesting and even satirical videos, like ‘ghar pe mat baitho’ and ‘thankyou for not voting’, we are putting out a message for youngsters to go and cast their vote,” says the husky-voiced actress. Curious, we ask her when wasthe first time that she voted?

“I remember I was in college in Delhi, so I had to go back home in Meerut for elections. During campaigning, the leaders came to our place and specially called me out to chat about their manifestos and work. That definitely makes you feel empowered.

Even though I admit I had no clue about any candidate at that time,” says Chitrangada casually relating her experience, adding, “I think I was in a dilemma like many other youngsters are. So, it is important for us to be politically aware, know who our candidates are, and not be influenced by our families’
inclinations.”

Drifting away from elections to her forte and the decade-long (off and on)
run in Bollywood, she says, “There’s always a certain amount of confusion and risk-taking that goes into all my decisions. If you know you are capable of something, you must take that risk so as to try out different things. Somebody rightly mentioned that one always thinks that they are out to make another Sholay, but nobody knows how things will execute,” she adds with a hearty laughter.

The beauty who is oft compared with yesteryear’s star, the late Smita Patil, admits that she is currently not engaged in any project but that we might just get to hear about something interesting in a month’s time. About leaving out on a role in Krrish 3, she genuinely confesses, “I wish I was a part of it. Honestly, at that point, had it not been for the date issues, I would have loved to be in that role.”

On that we enquire about her first time pairing with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in an untitled upcoming project, “I have really liked the script and I have heard even Amit Sadh is being roped in, but it is too early to be elaborately discussing this project,” says Chitrangada about her role in Kushan Nandy’s film.