Sonam is featured in this month's Valentine Special Filmfare. Here are some experts from her interview....we'll have the whole interview plus the pictures, scanned soon.

I HATE GLYCERINE
For someone who is just two films old Sonam is extremely confident and composed. Both Saawariya and Delhi 6 failed to make the cut but the actress is undeterred. Ask her if it meant serious heartbreak to see the films drown at the box office and she says, “My heart is completely intact. People always tell me, you need to have your heartbroken to know the real value of things. Fortunately for me, my heart has never been broken. Maybe I have never cared enough. And somehow I have always gotten away with blue murder. People have loved me in Delhi 6 and Saawariya and I was like, ‘Hey I got away with it.’ My problem is I am satisfied with myself very easily. Ranbir (Kapoor) says it’s a very bad thing. But really, I am not looking over someone else’s shoulder. I am ambitious for myself. I never asked for any of the prestigious endorsements I have in my kitty. I just got them. I’m lucky.” The leggy lass reveals that her first love is writing. And then quickly adds that currently her obsession is only acting. She also says that writing has helped her immensely to emote. “I have always been writing. I probably suck at it. I started writing when I was doing theatre. My directorial debut was The Glass Slipper-the Cinderella story with a twist. I showed the evil sisters in a sympathetic light. I also directed Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit. But I am shy about my writing. All I’ve wanted to do all my life is to write and direct. But then I discovered acting and I realised that with acting I can tell a story through who I am. I’m hooked for life.”

DEEP DOWN I AM A PUNJABI AUNTY
Her character in Aisha modeled after Jane Austen’s Emma is a compulsive meddler. Ask Sonam whether she is a meddler in real life and this is what she says, “I am a big meddler. I think it’s a girl thing. No wait, actually it’s the Punjabi aunty instinct. I tell my mom no matter how much couture I wear, no matter how well spoken I am or how many books I read I will always be a Punjabi aunty deep down.” She chortles in unison with us and continues, “But hey I am at the receiving end too. My grandma always groans, “Arre 24 ki hai. Chori itni lambi hai, kaise koi milega… upar se actor bhi ban gayi hai. (She is 24 years old. And she is so tall. Who will marry her? To top it all she is also an actress). I am constantly told that my mom was 16 when she met my dad and here I am hopelessly single. My granny also worries about my dressing style. She would like me to be dressed in short, backless dresses but here I am frolicking around in androgynous clothes. I love to rib her by saying, “But nani, boy’s style is hot!” But I don’t expect my grandparents to understand. They are staunchly middleclass. My dada lived in Chembur all his life. My nana worked in State Bank of India. Their thinking is different.”

I LOOKED LIKE A STUFFED PIGEON IN SHINY LEATHER PANTS
Aisha will also see Sonam in the trendiest couture, carefully and immaculately styled. It’s not a far cry from who she is in real life-a delightful clotheshorse. Sonam makes even the dumpiest of dresses work with her saucy punch and élan. Her love for fashion is probably only next to her love for books. Ask her what era she would like to be reborn in strictly from the point of view of fashion and she throws back ‘the 1920s or the ’80s’ without hesitation. “1920s because I am obsessed with that era — floppy dresses, the hair, the red lipstick, the smoky nightclubs, the jazz, the gangsters. The mood was so great. And I also pick the ’80s naturally because of Michael Jackson, Madonna, the big shoulders, sequins, the supermodels. ’80s was a time when fashion really evolved,” she says wisely. She admits to shopping online a lot. She talks about the one time the endeavour turned out to be a total disaster. “I bought these shiny leather pants online. I thought they looked cool because Popstar Rihanna wore them. But I looked like a stuffed pigeon in them.” Her most expensive online purchase? “A pair of Balmain shoes and they cost so much, it took me two months to recover.”

I AM A GUY IN A RELATIONSHIP
Ironically, for someone who is self-confessed die-hard romantic (she had expressed in her last interview with Filmfare that she sees hearts popping wherever she goes), Sonam is part of a film titled I Hate Luv Stories. Ask her if she has had a change of heart and she squeals her dissent. “Nooo, I totally dig love stories. Love makes the world go round. I believe in soul mates too. I truly believe that there is one special person for everyone.” Yet she is gloriously single at the moment or so she will have you believe. There have been rumours about Sonam dating her I Hate… director Punit Malhotra but of course she will neither confirm nor deny. She does have a mild blushing bout though and we seize that very opportunity to ask her which of her co-stars/directors is ideal dating material. Sportingly she quips, “All of them!” “They are all suitable in their own way,” she says amidst helpless giggles (girl’s girl anyone?). Imran is loyal, a good person and honest. Ranbir is fun, he is super duper rich and very talented. And he can be nice, well sometimes. He is also one of my best friends. Punit is super talented and cute. He works very hard. And Cyrus is funny and a good friend. Abhay is a rebel. He is so intelligent and he has a mind of his own and he is the most talented person I’ve ever worked with. So yes, all of them have good qualities that attract me. But you know what would really attract me at this point? An 8-pack bod!” She guffaws and also admits she doesn’t know anyone who has an 8 pack.