‘I am not here to do routine stuff’

“Yes, I’m playing Kamal Haasan’s wife in my new film. Why should that be a problem,” asked the 23-year-old actress.

“Once you are in front of the camera, your age should not matter. I never felt like a child while working with Salman Khan (who is 45) in Dabangg and now with Akshay Kumar in Joker.

“I will be respectful but an equal on the sets with Mr. Haasan,” she added.

And no, Haasan and Sonakshi are not doing an Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore routine from Hannibal.

“I don’t know where the speculation started from. No, this film is a complete original. When I heard the script, I was blown away. I’d be very stupid to turn it down, just because the hero, a legend in his lifetime, is much older than me. Aren’t we over these trivial matters?

“In real life, age makes no difference in a marriage. On screen too your biological age is of no consequence. I’ve been acknowledged for being different from my female colleagues. Let me enjoy this difference,” she said.

Sonakshi had earlier requested the entire crew of Shirish Kunder’s Joker in Chandigarh to stop treating her like the baby of the family.

“I’m not letting them treat me with kid gloves. I’ve made it very clear that Akshay, Shirish, Farah Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Sanjay Mishra and the entire team are my friends. It’s the only way to work,” she said.

Sonakshi also intends to spend as much time as possible with Haasan to get comfortable with the senior actor.

“Of course, there’s a lot of initial nervousness. Naturally. Kamal is legendary. Acting with him is difficult enough. But to play his wife, I need a lot more guts.

“But then I’ve a legend at home,” said Sonakshi, referring to her actor-politician father Shatrughan Sinha.