She’s sick of being just a glam doll and now, Neha Dhupia says, the wheels are turning in favour of the Bollywood heroines

Neha Dhupia says it is the best time for a girl to join Bollywood since they have more opportunities to showcase their acting prowess as the industry has ‘matured considerably’ and are making more realistic films that give considerable screen-time to actresses.

“It’s a great time for girls in our profession. We have been arm candies for heroes a long, long time. Even I started out by being an arm candy. But thankfully things have changed rapidly within some years and the scene looks very bright. We girls finally have films in which we can show off our acting skills,” she says.

She agrees that girls are getting meatier roles than before.

Neha adds, “The canvas is very vast now. Girls are getting more challenging roles. It’s not that films on girls are becoming very popular but girls are getting a wider palette of work. This is really good for us.”

Neha’s forthcoming release is Singh is Kinng. Speaking about the role, the actor says, “I play Julie in the film. I’m someone who tries to become an actress and is a part of a gang whose members are all from Punjab. She thinks these people will help her realise her dream. There is a love angle to my character too that slowly develops through the film.”

We know that Akshay is a real prankster on the sets. So did he pull a fast one on her?  “Well unfortunately we didn’t have much time to spend together as he had most of his shots with Katrina. I was with him for Garam Masala and know exactly what he can be,” she chuckles.

With more multiplex oriented films at hand, is it a conscious attempt from Neha to shed her ‘sexy babe’ tag and opt for some meaty role instead? “It has been a very slow but very conscious attempt in doing away with the the typecasting,” she says.

But all that was a  very gradual process, says Neha. The actor doesn’t want to rush into anything.

“But I could not afford to be sudden with this because then I would have harmed my image and career. I cannot change the way I look and how people perceive me but it was necessary for me to move on to sustain in the industry,” she ends.