It’s silly to assume that actresses would only resort to pettiness: Ileana D’cruz

Ileana D’cruz made her debut with Barfi (2012), a film that also starred Priyanka Chopra along with Ranbir Kapoor. Main Tera Hero (2014) was a two-heroine project and so was Happy Ending (2014), but Ileana is more than happy to share screen space with female actors.

Slamming all talk of rivalry and jealously, Ileana says, “I don’t know if I can say I have friends in the industry but I do have some great equations with some lovely people. Nargis (Fakhri) and I got along really well during Main Tera Hero and although we don’t talk often we sort of follow each other’s lives on social media. In a way, it makes me see how far she’s come and it makes me happy to see that she’s doing something that makes her happy. We lead busy lives that involve lots of travelling so we don’t have the luxury of catching up over weekends. I think it is possible for two actresses to be friends absolutely. Two mature women can definitely be friends. It’s silly to assume that two actresses would only resort to pettiness and jealousy. Only an immature woman who’s insecure would resort to something like that.”

Hence, it is safe to assume that her equation with young actor Athiya Shetty is genuine. The two worked together on Mubarakan and got along like a house on fire. But Ileana credits Athiya for breaking the ice. “Athiya and I got along from day one. And I think it’s because of her. The first conversation I remember having with Athiya was during the screening of Rustom,” she recalls.

It was during the interval that she came up to her to pay her a compliment, and Ileana says that it was that moment; she knew they’d be friends. “She came up to me and she had her eyes all wide and she said “oh my god you’re such an amazing cry-er!” And I honestly didn’t know whether to laugh or not, but it was the most adorable thing I had heard all day and I knew then that I’d always like her. Sure enough, once we started working together, we got more time to hang out and as it turns out, we’re both foodies, we love shopping and we can yak on and on about typical girly stuff! She’s very cool,” she says.