Sonakshi Sinha on turning 36 and response to Dahaad: I feel I have made my debut all over again

The timing of her show, Dahaad’s release couldn’t have been better, and Sonakshi Sinha is only too happy about it. As we get down to talk about her special day today and the response, she gushes, “It’s been incredible, so overwhelming. People who have not spoken to me in years are messaging me, those I don’t know from the industry have reached out. I was in a restaurant, random people walked up to me- not even for a photograph, but just to say they loved me in Dahaad. I don’t know how to deal with this right now!”

Turning 36 today, the actor feels exactly how she felt when Dabangg, her debut, released in 2010. “I do feel like I have made my debut all over again. The last time I was appreciated like this, it was very long back, for Lootera in 2013, and then Akira. Even Kalank, but not on this level,” she smiles.

She played the role of a fierce cop in the series directed by Reema Kagti who said in a recent interview that she alwas felt Sonakshi was ‘underutilised’. Did Sinha herself feel the same over the years?

“Sometimes, not all the time. I always try and give my 100 percent and do the best that I can whatever role you put me in, good or bad, I am glad people like Reema and Zoya Akhtar have taken note of that and actually given me a character to justify my ability, so to speak. I hope more people do that with me,” says the actor, who is working next in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heera Mandi.

What made it special for Sinha is the fact that her dad, yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha, felt the reach her performance had. “My dad’s friends have messaged him saying this is my best performance, even his peers from the industry. That’s the best compliment an actor can get. Another one was ‘you became the character completely- that’s huge for an actor,” she ends.