We hear elaborate tales from young actors about how they, since childhood, wished to see themselves on the big screen. Manushi Chhillar&rsquo;s isn&rsquo;t that story. &ldquo;I come from an academic-oriented family. But destiny had different plans,&rdquo; she starts.&nbsp;
<img title="Aditya Chopra" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/may/manus-twenty-seven-may-b_e.jpg" alt="Aditya Chopra" width="1280" height="720" />Aditya Chopra
Bollywood has been the destination for many beauty queens. But the 2017 Miss World winner, who will be launched with Akshay Kumar-starrer Prithviraj, says her entry into the movies is accidental. &ldquo;The film happened by chance. I met Adi sir [Aditya Chopra, producer] for a 10-minute meeting that lasted an hour. [After that], I did a series of auditions. But the fact that I was the leading lady didn&rsquo;t sink in until the first day on the set. In the eight months in between, I trained at YRF Studios for eight hours every day &mdash; [learning classical] dancing, doing acting workshops, and perfecting the language.&rdquo;
<img title="A still from Prithviraj" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2022/may/manus-twenty-seven-may-c_e.jpg" alt="A still from Prithviraj" width="1280" height="720" />A still from Prithviraj
Director Chandraprakash Dwivedi&rsquo;s period drama sees Chhillar as Princess Sanyogita. According to ancient texts, the 12th century princess defied her family to marry Prithviraj Chauhan. Chhillar believes women will identify with her part. &ldquo;She was courageous, someone who could declare her love in public. She called out society&rsquo;s hypocrisies, and had conviction in her beliefs that made her go against her father. Women will resonate with her spirit because she fights for the power to choose.&rdquo; &nbsp;
There has been much discussion about the glaring age difference between Kumar, 54, and Chhillar, 25. Does the age gap perturb her? &ldquo;I have to convince people that I am Princess Sanyogita. She was 18 at the time, which isn&rsquo;t my age. But an actor&rsquo;s job is to play all ages. That my co-star is older than me or vice versa is irrelevant. All that concerns me is that I should look the character&rsquo;s age.&rdquo; She has deep respect for Kumar who taught her life lessons. &ldquo;I love his professionalism. He doesn&rsquo;t take work-related stress home. Our industry [festers] anxiety, which can burn one out soon. He makes a conscious effort to enjoy. I learnt a thing or two about not tiring &nbsp;myself out.&rdquo;

Stating that hour-long meeting with Aditya was first step to bagging Prithviraj, Manushi discusses the prep that went into making her Bollywood-ready 

‘Trained every day for eight months’

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‘Trained every day for eight months’

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