Sonam Kapoor on Friday release Players, having a life beyond films and being star-struck!

You are looking very hot in the Players promos…

Oh My God! I am getting great feedback. People are really liking it… loving my look in the film. It’s a different me that you will get to see in Players. I get fresh feedback every time a new song of mine is on air. Have you seen the latest, Ladki hai nadaan with Abhishek (Bachchan)? Everyone is just loving me in that song. I have got comments like: ‘Oh, we didn’t know you could dance!’

Players is the official remake of The Italian Job. How true is it to the original?

The basic plot is similar, but Abbas-Mustan (the directors) have made it in their own edge-of-the-seat style. It’s designed more like a Bollywood caper to appeal to the audience here. They are huge fans of the original Michael Caine film, but they have added their own touch to it. For example, they have included vintage Mini Coopers in Players rather than the new ones.

You play Charlize Theron’s role in the 2003 film. Have you chipped in with your own inputs?

There are quite a few changes in my character. I play Naina, a computer hacker (Theron’s Stella was a safe cracker). She’s very gutsy and in-your-face. She loves driving fast cars, she’s got loads of attitude… she doesn’t think twice before sticking out her middle finger. Naina is a bad girl, but she’s actually very good. She does ethical hacking. She doesn’t like the fact that her dad is a convict. She drives fast, but never breaks the law. She’s very idealistic and ethical but also likes the taste of danger. Naina likes living life on the edge and playing with fire.

This is your first multistarrer…

Yes and I couldn’t have asked for a better set of co-actors. Players has been one of the best teams I have been a part of. We got to shoot in some really amazing locations, but it was also a lot of hard work… insane hours, really cold shooting locations…. I was the only actor on set who didn’t get a day off. I had to beg my mum (Sunita) to come to New Zealand and be with me. I really missed home.

What was it like working in a thriller for the first time?

Abbas-Mustan are the sweetest directors that you can ever come across. They are such nice people. They are so talented and the best action thriller directors that we have in Bollywood. Every day that I spent on sets with them was a learning experience. Making an edge-of-the-seat thriller with twists and turns at every corner is not easy, but Abbasbhai and Mustanbhai have really mastered this genre.

Did dad (Anil Kapoor) give you any tips since he has worked with them, in Race?

No matter what the film is, my dad has always told me to listen to my directors. He has told me: ‘The director is the captain of the ship. Come up with your inputs regarding your character or scene wherever you feel it’s necessary, but at the end of the day, do what your director wants’. It’s a piece of advice that I have followed right from my first film till now.

From when the Players promos first came out, Bipasha Basu’s red-hot bikini has been hogging the limelight. Does that worry you?

No, no! On the contrary, I am so happy that the bikini shot has created such a huge buzz because it will only help the film. I actually have been telling Bipasha to wear even shorter dresses because she is looking incredibly hot in the film! (Laughs.) Bipasha is a lovely person. I enjoyed working with her. We were both so confident about our roles and the way we looked that there was no room for insecurity.

How do you think Players is going to help your filmography?

I do hope it will do well and take my career forward, but I will always cherish Players for the lovely experience that it has been. It’s been one of my best movie shoots ever and I hope that for the sake of all the hard work we have put in, Players does well at the box office.

You have done just six films in four years. Do you feel that compared to a Deepika Padukone, who started at the same time, you have taken things a little too slow?

(Laughs) I love my space. I love taking things easy. If you are constantly taking on one film after another, I feel that the quality of your work and your commitment to your films really suffers. You don’t know what’s going on… you can’t mull over the things that you have done before…. You are working at such breakneck speed that you don’t even have time to analyse your performances and see where you can improve.

Also, films are not the only life that I have. I like to travel… chill… hang out with friends…. My life doesn’t start and end with my career. I am very clear about that.

Do you regret any career move?

Na, na I have no regrets. I am too young (26) to regret anything in life (laughs).

Do you think the fashionista tag takes away from the fact that you are an actress?

I love the tag! I simply revel in it because all the big fashion icons of their times, in posterity, have also been considered to be great actresses. Like Audrey Hepburn… Katharine Hepburn… Marilyn Monroe… Nutan… Zeenat Aman. I take the tag in a very positive way and I feel proud of the fact that at such a young age I have been given an iconic tag. Even at the cost of sounding immodest, I can say that not many people in the industry who are at the same age as I am, have been given tags like this.

Is meeting the likes of Tom Cruise one of the perks of your father being in Hollywood?

Oh My God! You know, I am a very star-struck person. I get star-struck seeing our own Bollywood stars! (Laughs). Even though I see them on a daily basis, I go completely berserk and gape at Salman (Khan), Shah Rukh (Khan) and Amitabh Bachchan! So you can imagine what I felt like when I was within centimetres of Tom Cruise!

At the end of the day, I am a normal girl. People were like: ‘Are you getting so excited just because he is from Hollywood?’ And I was like: ‘People get excited when they see me and I am not even a big star. Come on, this is Tom Cruise!’

Your dad had told us in a recent interview that he did Mission Impossible because your brother Harsh had advised him to. Do you also give him career advice?

No, no! He is the one who keeps giving me advice. My brother is good at it and so is my sister (Rhea). But I am quite dumb like that. No one comes to me for advice!