In Delhi, she was just a pretty little ‘Barbie’. Well, quite literally (her name is actually Barbie Handa)! And then the glamorous world of Mumbai changed her to Mannara. While she is here to make a mark in the city of dreams, at heart she is still a Delhi girl. So what if the place of her upbringing had its own shortcomings and limitations? When it comes to her fondest memories, her heart beats for Delhi.
“I am a pucca Delhite. I come from a very simple middle class Punjabi background. My father is a lawyer and I did my school and college in Delhi. Of course being in a city like Delhi meant there were restrictions. I had to be back home by 8 in the night. Also, I could not just walk out wearing anything. Short dresses, especially in the night, were a no-no,” reveals Mannara.
Given the kind of bold persona she is donning in her debut film, Zid, it is difficult to perceive Mannara as someone who was just a girl-next-door once upon a time.
“It isn’t so much about just the bold factor than the kind of complex part I am playing in Zid,” says Mannara, who had left even her cousin sister Priyanka Chopra shocked with an uninhibited body display in the first look of the film, “When Anubhav Sinha offered me Zid, I was fascinated by the complexities that were in the character and skin show was something that was just in the peripheral. That wasn’t something that I was even thinking of much. What I picked was the whole layering that my character in Zid carries.”
On a parting note, she adds, “If skin show was the only criteria then I am sure makers would have found many options. If I am picked out of 900-1000 girls that were auditioned, then there must have been something about my act too. I take it as a compliment that I am the chosen one. For someone who has so many of her Chopra cousins in the film industry, I have to made sure that I bring in my true worth on screen.”
Looking forward to that, Mannara.