EXCLUSIVE | 'Ishq Vishk Rebound' actress Pashmina Roshan: 'Hrithik Roshan gave me a lot of tips, I still crush on Shahid Kapoor because...'

Hrithik Roshan’s niece Pashmina Roshan is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Ishq Vishk Rebound that releases in cinemas on June 21. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actress spoke about the advice she received from her Superstar uncle, still crushing on Shahid Kapoor with those reruns of Ishq Vishk (2003), and finding friends for life in her co-stars from the film.

Edited excerpts from the interview

How excited are you since this is your debut?

I am. Okay. Can I be honest? I’m very excited, and I’m equally a bit nervous too. And it’s all feeling a bit I don’t know if that’ll come in your voice. It’s okay. But it’s feeling a little, like, pinch me, you know. Like, is this my reality really? Are these many things happening? So I’m not being able to process that. And I don’t know if I can say this, I feel like that little bit of the imposter syndrome that’s there. That is also, like, seeping in. Like, so much is happening around me. Just feel that it’s feeling a bit too real. And so yeah. So excited. I’m excited for all the things of the film that are coming up and cropping up. I’m excited for that.

So many actors have spoken about how challenging and daunting the industry can be. So how prepared are you now? 

I don’t think you can ever be too prepared. I feel like if you feel like you’re prepared, then you’re closing scope for learning. So I would like to be under prepared so that I can learn more and more and more and more.

Hrithik Roshan has had arguably the most iconic debut.  What did you say to him when you saw Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai? How did you react to the stardom that was bestowed on him immediately?

You know, I was a baby at that time. I was very, very small, I didn’t know his film has come out. We were so small. But I remember there was a show that happened post release, in Delhi. I think it was the Roshan show or something. And I was in the audience, and he had, now I don’t know if this is the truth or if this is my memory as a child that’s just set. But he had come on stage with this, silver mask, and he and then he pulled it out, and he was owning the dance floor on that stage. And I look at my mom and say, who’s that? She’s like, what do you mean who’s that? That’s Hrithik. And I was just like, what? Okay. That was the first time I saw him as, oh my god, Hrithik Roshan, the star that he is. I was taken aback and enamoured, totally enamoured.

And has he given any tips to you how to go about it with your career in the industry?

He’s given a lot of tips and advice on mostly on performance, on how I can improve my performance all the time, and he gives a lot of feedback. But I think navigating life, he gives, he definitely gives advice. But on how to navigate the industry, not really. Like, that is something you have to learn with experience. So he’s also, like, the type of person that will let me have my own experiences. And if I fall, he’ll be there to catch me. I know that for a fact, but I have to make those turns and fall. Like, for instance, if you’re teaching a kid how to ride the bike, you have to leave the bike at one point. And the kid has has to fall to learn that it’s okay, and then I can get up and still go on. It’s sort of like that.

The first Ishq Vishk is known for the chemistry between the actors. It felt so cool and relatable and impressionable. How was it like working with your co-stars, and how has the chemistry been like?

Honestly, they’re my friends for life. I love each one of them, and I have a different equation with each one of them. And it’s not like I’ve not fought with them. We have fights. But it’s at those points of contention in life when you get over those, when you get over an argument, you become closer. And then it’s like, you are my buddy. I can be myself around you wholeheartedly. And because of that, we did a workshop together, before the film started just to build chemistry and to get to know each other. It was a really cool workshop because in that, in invariably, we all have started, speaking about very personal things. So very early on, we realized and learned things about each other that I don’t think people would learn even if they knew each other for, like, years. And because I learned those things about each one of them, I understood more about their personality. And because I understood more about their personality, it was so much easier to connect with them and feel like, hey. You’re my person. I know that Jibraan, Nailla, and Rohit will always have my back. They will always be honest with me. There have been so many times on set that I felt like lost at something or, I’ve not understood something or I’ve not seen that, hey. This is not looking fine or this is not vibing. And each one of them have come in at different times, helped me out in that situation. And I it’s very, very lucky because you don’t get I’m you you don’t get easy chemistry with everyone.

What can you tell me about your character?

Okay. I can tell you. So I’ve said this in a few interviews. When I read this, the first audition script that I was supposed to give, the first time only I read it, the character, I was sitting with my best friend, Riddhima. And I was just like, yo. This character is exactly like you. Okay. I’ll give you a little bit of Riddhima. She’s a baddie. Okay. So this character is a baddie but a softie from inside. So she is in Hindi, you would call her a gundi. Okay. Mufat, gundi, very emotional, and very different for me because I’m a bit of the kind of person that can’t say no to people that doesn’t speak her mind? It’s more like I want others to feel more comfortable even if it comes at my own cost. Sometimes it’s almost like setting yourself on fire to keep somebody else warm. It is like that. Not, like, from a bad intention, but this character is not like that at all. She is clear. She is in her confusion also, she is sorry. We were shooting in Dehradun, and I was cut off from the rest of my normal world. And in that moment, in that whole few 40 days, I really started to admire this quality of standing up for yourself. And I can say for a fact that after the film is when I started, like, inculcating that in my life. Like, setting boundaries with people, saying no to things even though it tormented me. So I think I got a bit of the character back home with me.

Which is your favorite character from the first film and why?

Oh, Shahid Kapoor’s character because it’s so obvious. He’s the cutest. Every frame he is in, you just can’t help but smiling. And then with the innocence and the and the everything he has. And the dance. Oh, god. I have crushed on him when I saw the film, and I still crush on him. Yeah. Very blatantly.

What are the essences of the first film that you have retained in Rebound?

So that’s a lovely question. It’s not the same story. It’s not the same, it’s not a sequel. It’s the same franchise. So there’s not too much that is similar. The songs, of course, are similar, which we’re so lucky and grateful and for the opportunity to be able to even have such a song have such iconic music in our, film as recreations, that is similar. And what I would say is similar is in love, there is confusion. That’s been there prevalent throughout generations is how human beings are wired. And also human beings celebrate love. So I think that is the similarity. The theme of celebrating love and, also, celebrating love with all its quirks and with all its confusion and torment, still finding it the best thing in the world. That is what the common theme is.