Manushi ChhiIlar: Going back to medical college was not possible because…

When Manushi Chhillar, now an actor post Prithviraj opposite Akshay Kumar, became Miss World, her life changed completely. She says that acting was not on her mind but in fact, clearing the medical entrance in college was.

“After winning Miss World, I worked really hard to clear my medical entrance in college. I always wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to use the experience I got as Miss World and combine that with my medical degree. But life had other plans.” Soon after she debuted with Prithviraj.The 26-year-old, set to star next with John Abraham in Tehran, sheds light, “I never thought I want to pursue acting as a profession.”

There has been no looking back as she had to leave it behind in order to embrace the change. She shares that many don’t realise is the enormity of such a big shift. She was just three when actor Priyanka Chopra won Miss World. “So I didn’t even have first hand experience seeing the journey, how life changes. When I had that experience myself, I realised going back to college was not possible because you lose anonymity. You are popular, life changes. There’s a certain amount of privacy and anonymity you want as a student. As great a change this is in my life, it comes with a lot of love from people for something that happened to me,” she gushes.

Chhillar says the pageant was “something extraordinary”, and films soon came knocking at her door. “People wanted to launch me. Many things happened. The only thing certain in life is the uncertainty. In the end, everything worked out in my favour, I love it,” she says.

How does she deal with the scrutiny over her personal life? From being one among the crowd, to now who she even meets, is potential news.”The key is to not take it too seriously. I have never taken myself too seriously. When I won, 90 percent of the stuff written about me was all fiction! There were random stories about me, which even I was reading for the first time myself,” she laughs.