Jacqueline Fernandez, 27, holds her strongest bonds with her father and her country Sri Lanka. Ahead of her upcoming film Race 2, she opens up to TOI. Excerpts:
Let’s talk about your family?
My dad is Sri Lankan and my mom is Malaysian. I was born and brought up in Bahrain and did my schooling there and university in Australia. My mom’s dad is Canadian and my great grandparents were from Goa in India. People in Sri Lanka with a European ancestry are called ‘Burghers’. So ctually I am a cocktail who looks quite Malay and am a ‘Burgher Sri Lankan’. My dad left Sri Lanka in the 80s as it was unsafe to live there because of the civil crisis due to the clashes between the Tamilians and the Sinhalese people. He was a musician and was also part of a band. He moved to Bahrain where he fell in love with my mother, who was an airhostess at that time. We were four kids born within a gap of one year each and were extremely naughty. Since we were four of us, my father did a day job as a salesman in a duty-free shop and a night job as a DJ. I know now that it was a huge struggle for my dad to ensure we were comfortable but he never showed it. He was doing two jobs and would hardly get any sleep. We had no remorse or guilt as children but he could not sleep more than three hours a night. He never had time to bond with us as kids even though he really loved us. I used to worship him like God as he could never harm anyone and he is my role model. I am similar to my dad in the way that I am protective about my family and would easily take a bullet for them. Even with my brothers, I always make sure they are secure and taken care of even though they are older than me. Financially, I take care of my family and whatever is mine is theirs. My dad is still working, but I want him to retire. In fact from the time I have been a kid I wanted him to retire. I meet a lot of girls whose goal in life is to look after their family. It’s sad that we have girl child killings but most girls only think about taking care of their families.
How did you find your way to Bollywood?
Ever since I was a kid, I idealised glamour actresses. After my graduation, I returned to Sri Lanka and did a couple of TV shows. After many years they had the Miss Sri Lanka pageant that I won. I was doing a Rotary show where I met the Times Group’s talent management team who asked me to come to India to model and act in Bollywood. I came and was auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh’s Aladin. My father was a big fan of Amitabh Bachchan who was playing Ginnie in the film and is a big star in Sri Lanka. I was selected and got my first Bollywood break and was paired with Riteish Deshmukh. Sujoy and Riteish since remain my oldest friends from India. Riteish was making a film with Milap Zaveri and I was cast in Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and then I got to do an item number in Housefull and after that nothing happened. I would have these long conversations with Sujoy and Milap and doubted myself, considering even going back to Sri Lanka as I was just wasting time. They say that in the film industry you need to be patient as you never know when something can come up. But I had lost all patience till I got a call from Mukesh Bhatt for Murder 2. Everything changed after that and a month later, Housefull 2 happened.
How did you deal with your frustration at a time when nothing was happening in your career?
I doubted myself and felt vulnerable. Maybe if I had my family with me I would not have gone through the same. Milap was a strong reason for keeping me here and saw the potential in me. He would meet me everyday without fail even when I would tell him I don’t want to meet anybody just to encourage me. Things have not come easily to me in Bollywood and I have had to struggle a lot. As a girl it was that much more difficult as I was not only going through my professional struggle but also concerned about looking after my family.
What have been your learnings from the film industry?
One, you need to have patience. Two, you need to have dedication and have to really work hard. In Housefull 2, at the end of the day while all of us were tired, Akshay Kumar would go back and work out at home and would never be tired. John has a body to die for but he never cheats on his food or workout and is completely focused. I saw the kind of time Amitabh Bachchan gives to his rehearsals. Also, you can only inflict bad on yourself through negative thoughts which you need to overcome as an actor. For days I used to ponder on this one negative story about ‘Jacky has no mind of her own’. It hurt me a lot as I did have a mind of my own even though I may not have taken the best decisions. It takes an effort to remain positive being in this industry.
Let’s talk about Sajid Khan. How is he as a director?
He is a fun director to work with. He is always cracking jokes and making the atmosphere light and his actors adore him. He knows his work and is confident. His knowledge of cinema, be it Bollywood or Hollywood, is massive. You can give him a dialogue from a movie and he will not only tell you the name of the film, but also its director, music director and the year in which it came. On the set of Housefull 2, we used to play this game where all of us had to continue giving film names based on the last alphabet. The last people left were always Farah and Sajid. Also, Sajid may not have a technical training but enacts everything for you from the comedy to the tone of voice to the expression. If he doesn’t like what you do he will make you do it his way. So you can try but usually it ends up being his way.
