While we are on the topic of Rockstar, I can’t really go forward without mentioning the person who entered my life in Rockstar and stayed with me the most from my assisting days. She is one of my absolute closest, craziest and most gorgeous friends, Nargis Fakhri. And since it’s her birthday there can be no greater cause then to embarrass her by writing a blog about her. Boy, is she going to be pissed!!!

So the first time I ever heard of Nargis Fakhri was when were in the throes of a desperate search for the leading lady of Rockstar. Imtiaz was certain of one thing; she had to be undeniably beautiful and must look like she belongs to the upper crust elite. She had to have an aspirational, untouchable quality about her that would drive Jordan crazy. While looking through the thousands of photos from casting agencies, I accidentally saw Nargis on one of the Kingfisher calendars. Because her name was Nargis Fakhri, I assumed she had to be from this region of course. When I showed her picture to Imtiaz and Ranbir, they were instantly excited!! (MEN!!) Hahahah…. the rest as they say is history.

There are a lot of incredible stories about Nargis, most of them frivolous and not true, but what actually is her true story remains the most interesting and the least told one. The daughter of a refugee from Czech Republic who fled to New York and married a Pakistani taxi driver, Nargis started working at fourteen as a model, then worked as a bartender in New York, and then as an actress. She was the single bread earner for her broken home, supporting her mother and sister.

Most of us spend our life complaining about our circumstances. Not her! Nargis was a shining example of changing her life through courage and tenacity and maybe because of that she never took the hoopla around her seriously. She saw past the glitz and stood firmly in her principals, even if it cost her jobs, which it did. So when Nargis landed here in Mumbai, for her it was just another job that would allow her to make some money. She had no idea who Imtiaz Ali or Ranbir Kapoor were, nor did she really care. I honestly loved that about her.

As we ended up deep diving into the prep of Rockstar, Nargis and I spent endless hours together during costume trials, rehearsals, readings, travelling etc. and subconsciously became each other’s pillars of support. I still laugh out loud at the numerous hours we spent cooped up in the hotel room, making priceless plans about life post the film, boys, clothes, food and of course rehearsing the lines.

Nargis is a classic example of someone wise beyond her years, and I remain in awe of the way she knew how to navigate around tricky and slightly dicey (yet very powerful and egoistic) men throwing themselves at her. She responded in a way that left men smiling despite their own rejections. She tried very hard to coach me in matters of the heart, and failed miserably (I may add) as she watched me stumble and fall and make a complete mess of myself again and again! But she was always there to help me clean up the mess. Later after I left assisting and went my own way Nargis remains my first call, first cheerleader and first sister in Mumbai city, trying to find our way in a world that was a lot more complicated than we could ever imagine.

In the movie industry, success is measured in the weirdest ways. The best, most awe inspiring people for me, are the people who’ve travelled the most on their personal journey. The distance from where they started to where they landed on the back of their own tenacity is what inspires me. And from being the girl who stitched her own clothes in a small apartment in the Queens, to travelling the world, doing movies in a country where you don’t speak the language and becoming financially free to lift your own family up is the stuff that makes people rise off the page of glitzy magazines and straight into my heart!
The twenty five year old, dazed and confused Sunaina who met you in Rockstar looks back at gratitude for the love and authenticity you brought to my life. Okay, enough!