Ladies vs Ricky Bahl brings back the Band Baaja Baaraat (BBB) team. Isn’t that too soon? We never planned the film to cash in on the success of BBB. It just so happened that director Maneesh Sharma had a script ready and he wanted us (Ranveer Singh and herself) for it.

Since your pairing with Ranveer clicked in a big way, is there pressure to recreate the same chemistry? We don’t take that pressure. Chemistry is not created by actors, it is on paper between the characters. Ranveer and I focus on doing our best. We just follow instructions, read our lines and give our best.

How would you appraise your career so far? People feel that I became a star after my first film, I don’t think so. Indeed Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was a huge launch and I’m fortunate to have had it. It allowed me to not just look pretty but also perform. But there was very little hype about me. I didn’t become an overnight star. I didn’t go on a spree of signing big banners. There were no magazine covers proclaiming me as the next big thing. Nobody called me the “New It Girl”. My recall, for all intents and purposes, will remain Band Baaja Baaraat. All the love and recognition came after it.

You sound hurt. You feel you didn’t get your due? It’s not about being hurt. I’m telling you as it happened. Today, I’m in a good place. I’m working with the best in the business. A couple of years back, I made a list of directors I wanted to work with, and next year I’m working with two of them  Vishal Bhardwaj and Yash Chopra. But it hasn’t been easy. I never enjoyed the feeling of having arrived, unlike Ranbir (Kapoor), Ranveer, Deepika (Padukone) or Sonakshi (Sinha). These guys became overnight stars. My struggle started after my dream debut, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and went on till Band Baaja Baaraat.