Aditi Rao Hydari On Being Royal and Those Farhan Akhtar Rumors

A session of unfettered repartee with Aditi Rao Hydari reveals what her growing years as a royal-slash-hippie were like, what her biggest dealbreakers are...and how she’s basically a ‘No Filter’ hashtag in girl form!

- Saumyaa Vohra

There’s an air about Aditi that’s so graceful and delicate (especially as she swishes around the almost gothic set of the shoot), it suggests a wealth of calm. It’s almost as if she’s flirting with the lens, and it’s giving her a go-ahead right back. When she mentions she’s had zero sleep for the last two days, we’re surprised at how unwilted she seems, running as she is on reserve battery. “That exhaustion goes someplace else when the camera comes on,” she tells us. “I’ve never shied away from it. Even as a kid, I’d say things to my friends like ‘Let’s play photo-photo—you can all take pictures of me!” she laughs. “I know how conceited I sound, but I’d like to think it isn’t vanity—it’s just a plain and simple romance!”

So much so, in fact, that she even says her performances on-screen are a 100 percent reliant on her celluloid paramour. “I suck at rehearsals— anyone who’s shot with me will attest to it. I’m only good to go when the camera’s on. Until then, I’m pretty hopeless.”

Demure as she may look steeped in the chandelier’s glow, she assures us she was a proper trouble-maker growing up. “I was anything but shy and reserved,” she chirps. “I’d go as far as to say I was a ball of activity— doing yoga, swimming, playing sports, you name it. I’m a really open person—even though kids that grow up only children aren’t always. Unless, you know, I get a bad vibe or bad energy from someone. Then I do tend to shut down.”