Priyanka: I don't believe in love at first sight

Priyanka Chopra claims that Anjaana Anjaani is the first 'complete' love story she has done in her career. Releasing this Friday, the film will see the actress opposite Ranbir Kapoor for the first time. It has been directed by Siddharth Anand.

Priyanka tells Patcy N that she does not believe in love at first sight, but had fun shooting for the film. Excerpts:

How did Anjaana Anjaani happen?

Sajidbhai (Nadiadwala) and I wanted to work together since Mujhse Shaadi Karogi but nothing materialized. One day, he called me and said that he was doing a film with Siddharth (Anand). He asked me if I would like to be in it. I was fine with it.

Siddharth then narrated a script but it didn't work for me. That had Ranbir as well. Then he came to me with Anjaana Anjaani. When I heard the plot, I said yes.

It is not a conventional love story -- it is the story of a boy and a girl, who meet on a bridge where they have come to commit suicide. From there, what happens to their lives is the story of the film.

I have done romcoms like Dostana and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi but not a complete love story. Even Love Story 2050 was a sci-fi.

Give us a reason why you would fall in love with a stranger in real life.

Every person you meet for the first time is a stranger. Your friend was a stranger when you met him/her for the first time. I believe that the most interesting love stories are between two people who don't know each other at all.

My main reason would be that it's exciting when you don't know the person who is wooing you. You have so much time to get to know each other, you discover things about each other and that becomes the journey.

You won't know his past, how many girlfriends he's had... so there is no baggage, no drama. Plus, he won't know anything about you. So you start from scratch. If you don't like him in the first five days, you can leave him -- it won't hurt much.

Which is your favourite love story?

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

Tell us about Ranbir, who was a stranger to you before this film.

I did not know Ranbir before at all. We had met in parties but hadn't spoken much to each other. I had a bad impression of him. I thought he would be spoilt and arrogant, as he got stardom very early in life. So I did not talk to him. I would give my shot and go to the vanity van.

But when we went to America, it was just the two of us together, spending three and a half months there. So that's when we really started talking to each other. We got along really well. We have a lot in common.

He is a tremendous actor; he is one of those actors who keeps you on your toes. You never know what he will do in the next scene. You have to be quick to keep up with him. He challenges you and you become better.

Professionally, I am senior to him but we belong to the same age group.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

No. You cannot fall in love at first sight, you can get attracted. Love is too profound. I think the word 'love' has been basterdised. People say 'I love you' in two days. I don't think it works like that.

Your chemistry with Ranbir is very good. Did you have to work on that?

It worked from the first day itself, because our characters were written like that. When we became friends, we would improvise a lot. We shot the film backwards. We shot the climax first, and our introductory scene last.

Any fun anecdotes while shooting?

We had a bad cake fight on the last day of the shoot. We were shooting in San Francisco then. We were celebrating a birthday, and the finale of the shoot.

Ranbir picked up some cake, smeared it on Siddharth and ran away. Siddharth turned and saw me laughing, so he thought I did it. So he threw some cake on me. I got so angry I rubbed all the cake on his face. I started beating him up too. Then we realised that we were fighting unnecessarily as it was all Ranbir's fault! So we went to Ranbir's room -- he had just taken a shower -- and smeared him with cake.

Tell us about your outfits in the film.

Manish (Malhotra) and I have had a good track record in terms of clothes. In Dostana and Pyaar Impossible, I got very good reviews about my clothes. Anjaana Anjaani is a winter film, so it's different from Dostana, which was a summer film.

The ghagra choli at the film's finale is the nicest costume I get to wear. I wore sneakers and a denim jacket with it because it was very cold in New York where we shot it.

Tell us your experience of working on Khatron Ke Khiladi.

I wanted to be myself on Fear Factor. I didn't want to pretend that I was strong. If someone puts crawly creatures on me, I would feel terrible. I am a girl, so I would behave like a girl only.

I can't say who my favourite contestant is before the season ends. But I've had a soft corner for poor Manjot because he had just turned 18 and had to compete with all the men. He came back on the show on a wild card entry because he was so good.

When the show started, we got a huge response -- the highest response in the history of television. Now, the TRPs are consistent. I get a lot of mails from fans praising my work on TV.

Will we see more of you on TV?

No. This was an experiment for me; I wanted to try it out because Fear Factor is one of my favourite shows.

Many TV shows have been offered to me but I did not have any interest in them. Even when this opportunity came to me, I was reluctant because TV takes a lot of time. But since they needed only 20 days, I said yes. I had just finished the film Saat Khoon Maaf and had time before the promotions of Anjaana Anjaani and Don shoot started.

Tell us about Saat Khoon Maaf.

Saat Khoon Maaf is an ambitious project for me. I play a character from the age of 21 to 65. That was very tough.