I've always been encouraged to carve my own niche: Aditi Rao Hydari

Aditi Rao Hydari is dabbling between the Hindi and the Tamil film industries. The actor, who will next be seen in the period drama Padmavati, is someone who is drawn to romantic movies set in olden eras. “I have loved movies such as Shakespeare In Love, Great Expectations, Anna Karenina, and Pride And Prejudice,” says the actor.

Aditi even belongs to a royal family from Hyderabad, Telangana. Ask her if that is also the reason behind her bagging the project, and she says, “I don’t know. But some of my favourite films are period films. It’s possibly a combination of how I look, my background, my training in dance, etc.”

So, has she lived the quintessential royal life? “There are luxuries that I’ve grown up with, but it wasn’t about typical material luxuries. My maternal grandfather was all about decorum and tehzeeb (manners). But my grandmother made sure I was a free spirit. My mother also gave me the freedom to make my own choices. I had the best of both the worlds under one roof. However, I’ve always been encouraged to look beyond that and carve my own niche,” says the Wazir (2016) actor.

Ask her if the life of the royalty is any different today than how it used to be in the past, Aditi says that “every family is different”. “However, regardless what stays forever is grace. It’s in your DNA, and I cherish it,” she states.

From her contemporaries and the younger crop of actors, Aditi finds Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt inspiring. “Ranbir can make me believe anything on screen. And Alia, I love her choices and the fact that she is so real and not self-conscious,” says the Rockstar (2011) actor.

Aditi will next be seen in Padmavati, that co-stars Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor.