People love to watch me on screen, not my acting talent: Nushrat Bharucha

Nushrat Bharucha of Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) fame says she was one of the actresses shortlisted for the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). She says her on-screen image is stuck in the limited vision of filmmakers.

Bharucha has often been seen playing the "nagging girlfriend" on the big screen. Asked why she is not experimenting to grow as an actress, she told the IANS news agency, "I think my image is stuck in other people's perceptions. I was one of the shortlisted girls for the female lead of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire along with Freida Pinto."

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"But I was not finalized because of my looks. [Director] Danny Boyle's team sat me down and explained that I do not look like a girl coming from a slum area. I was told I am a damn good actor and everything is perfect except that my look doesn't fit the character."

That wasn't the last time she was rejected for this reason.

"It happened to me later also. Casting directors said I look like an urban girl with sharp features. Maybe that is true, but we are living at a time where a lot of advanced make-up techniques are available," she countered.

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"How come people are convinced to see the same Shraddha Kapoor as the rich Riya Somani and as Haseena Parkar, the sister of an underworld don? [This is] because she is a star, who has achieved mass popularity, and directors are ready to experiment with her. I haven't achieved stardom," Bharucha observed.

Still, she has managed to deliver commercially successful films like LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015). Her latest release, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, is also getting a good response from audiences.

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So what is stopping her from getting mass appreciation? "I think people love to watch me on screen, not my acting talent," the young actress said. "With PKP [Pyaar Ka Punchnama], I did not own the film. Among the six actors in the film, Kartik [Aaryan] was the most noticed and he stood out.

"I was not bad in the film. People noticed me as well, but I was not defining the brand of the film. I was adding a value to that. So, at red carpets and award ceremonies, people said, 'She is the Punchnama girl' without even knowing my name properly!"