MUMBAI: With two back-to-back blockbusters under her belt Sonakshi Sinha has much reason to be proud and so, feels Bihar, do Biharis. There’s a growing resentment in the state about the fact that the Bihar ki beti has not paid them a visit since her stardom in ‘Dabangg’. And now when her second film ‘Rowdy Rathore’ too has acquired blockbuster status, the question being asked in Bihar is, where is Sonakshi?
We hear the matter is finally being sorted out. And the young Sinha star is all set to pay her home-state a visit. Proud father Shatrughan Sinha who saw ‘Rowdy Rathore’ in Delhi with bureaucrats and police officers and can’t stop beaming with paternal pride, says Sonakshi’s Patna visit is now being worked out. Says Shatruji, “Her absence from Bihar is not intentional. Why would she not go home? Bihar is her home. She spent much of her growing years in our home in Patna when my mother was alive. Now when my mother is no more I stay in a hotel in Patna for convenience. But we are now coming to Patna and people there should stop sulking.She has just not had time to make that long-due visit. Even when the promotional tours for ‘Rowdy Rathore’ were planned it isn’t her fault that Patna was not on the promotional map.”
The doting dad cribs that Sonakshi is hardly home. “After ‘Dabangg’ she has mostly been shooting outdoors. Even my wife and I hardly get to see her. On Saturday it was Sonakshi’s birthday. On Sunday morning she left for Dalhousie for the shooting of ‘Lootera’.”
Sonakshi’s proud father says the practical considerations regarding Sonakshi’s Bihar visit are now being worked out. “Bhai, ab to Sonakshi ko jaana hi padega. She has played a girl from Patna in ‘Rowdy Rathore’.That was intentional. She could’ve been a girl from Varanasi. But we wanted to establish that bond with Bihar. Even her dialogues have references to my Bihari character from Khudgarz,” says Shatruji.
Incidentally Shatruji is overwhelmed by Sonakshi’s screen presence. “She seems to have inherited her beauty from her mother and her confidence level from me. Thankfully it isn’t the other way around. Jokes aside, in all objectivity I think my daughter holds her own against Akshay Kumar although he has a double role in Rowdy Rathore,and he has performed very effectively .”
The darling daughter has made Shatruji do what not even wild horses could drag him to do. “I’ve watched only two films in the last twenty years. Guess which? Dabangg and Rowdy Rathore. I must say she does Bihar proud.” The visit to the home town would be short and snappy since Sonakshi is shoting non-stop during the coming months. “This is only because people in Bihar feel she is ignoring them. They forget, Bihari Babu visits them every few weeks. Bihari Bitiya will also visit them shortly,”promises Shatruji.
