Never felt that this was my first film: Disha Patani on MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

Disha Patani is going places. She will soon be seen playing Dhoni’s first love, Priyanka Jha, who died in a tragic car accident in 2002, in the much awaited film, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story.

The 21-year-old started her film career right here in Tollywood with Loafer, and says that she is glad to have worked with Puri Jagannadh for her debut film. “He is someone I really trust and I felt like he was the right person to start with. I learnt so much from him about acting, directing and even about how to be a good human being,” she says, adding that she will not stay away from Tollywood.

“Language is not a barrier for me. I am mostly concerned about the script. If I get something that excites me, I will do it,” she says.

Disha says it was great working with co-star, Sushant Singh Rajput in the Dhoni biopic. “I never felt that this was my first film. He makes one feel so comfortable. He is hard working and always in character. When he was on the sets, he became Dhoni.” She is also all praise for director Neeraj Pandey: “Neeraj sir was very clear about what he wanted from me and the character, right from day one. He was always there to guide me.”

Her other upcoming film is a multi-lingual Indo-Chinese film in which she acts alongside Jackie Chan. “I never imagined that I would get to work with someone like Jackie Chan so early in my career, and it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” she says.

Describing the film, Disha says, “It is an action-comedy, so I have fight sequences. They were looking for a girl who could do action. In fact, I bagged this film because I was into gymnastics and kickboxing.”

So, does she think the trend of women-centric action films are picking up in Bollywood? She says, “I don’t understand this concept of women oriented films or stories based on women, because nobody uses the term, a ‘man-oriented’ film. Why do you have to separate girls from boys? For me, acting is an art. It doesn’t matter if I am the lead or a man is the lead actor in a film. What really matters to me is that I give my 100 per cent to my job.”