WHY CAN'T WOMEN BE CRAZY IN LOVE

It's always the men who are going crazy, barbaad. They never show a woman going crazy like that.' A woman has to be very proper, sitting on a swing, crying.

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Since her parents were associated with the film industry, Anjali Anand always knew she wanted to be a part of that world. Television became her launching pad before she seamlessly moved to the next level with the Dharma Productions film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.

She came into her own as one of the leads in the slice-of-life drama Raat Jawaan Hai and continued with another solid role in the crime caper Dabba Cartel. Anjali is proud of her unconventional looks, “I have never thought of myself as something different. Who wants to be standardly beautiful? Nobody. Standard beauty is not even beautiful anymore. I have not come here to break any beauty standards; I believe it will happen on its own.”

In your last three outings, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Raat Jawaan Hai and Dabba Cartel, you play different shades of a feisty woman. How similar is the real Anjali from these recent characters?

Now that I’m looking back, I’m thinking, oh, they were quite feisty. They’ve been rebellious. They would enter the room and command the room. I think that is one quality that maybe I have because that is what even Shibani (Akhtar, co-creator and co-producer) told me when she cast me for Dabba Cartel.

I just recently spoke to David Dhawan sir and he told me I saw you on screen and there was a spark. It is like you find yourself in a character and the rest just keeps happening on its own.

Dabba Cartel marks your third collaboration with screen legend Shabana Azmi after Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and the yet unreleased Bun Tikki. How is she as a person?