Delhi is jinxed for me: Sonarika Bhadoria

Most celebrities from Delhi have several stories to share about the city’s food, markets and open spaces and how much they enjoy all of it, but actress Sonarika Bhadoria hasn’t had such good experiences in Delhi so far. Sonarika was born and raised in Mumbai and has visited Delhi a couple of times for work, but she’s never had a good time here. “I don’t have fond memories of Delhi. I visited Delhi last year when I was promoting a film," she says.

And that was the day when demonetization was announced, and there was panic everywhere. Our flight was cancelled and the rate of the next flight available from Delhi to Mumbai was around a lakh! We could not go anywhere and were super stressed about our money. Next, I came to Delhi for a winter wedding and there was so much smog here that I fell terribly ill and could not shoot for a few days, making my producers very angry,” said Sonarika, who was in Delhi recently to talk about her new show Prithvi Vallabh - Itihaas Bhi, Rahasya Bhi.

Unfortunately for her, even this visit didn't begin on a good note. "I was supposed to have two costumes here, but I have just one. While getting ready, I broke my earring and everyone was looking for a way to fix it. I think for me, there is some jinx with Delhi," added Sonarika.

After her role as 'Parvati in Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev', Sonarika is back on the small screen after five years. She did a few Telugu films and a Hindi film that didn't work well. Sonarika says she doesn't regret being away from television. "I was young when I began my journey on television, for me it was the right time to explore all my options and to learn and grow. It wasn't that people didn't offer me anything nice, but nothing was as interesting or challenging as playing a warrior princess (in Prithvi Vallabh)," said Sonarika.

"I didn't want to be in saas-bahu dramas. We have so many examples of successful women in real life, but what content do we have to offer on TV? Either the woman is crying, being tortured, or is being plotted against - so what are we trying to show? Although, TV is a woman-centric medium, what is the final message that we take away from it? Women are cooking, crying or listening to their husbands. People forget that we are strong, fierce and we can kick some ass and that should reflect in the content that we create. So when I was offered to play a warrior princess on screen, I was excited. For me, portraying a fierce woman, who is pretty, intelligent, mixed martial arts. The only goof-up that happened was that I ended up training and working out so much that when we began shooting I had abs and the director told me that they need someone with curves for the role, and not abs. We were shooting in Rajasthan then and I was made to eat gud ke paranthe, mitha i and all the carbs in the world to help me gain weight," she said.