"There had to be a way to put two people together"
Manushi Chhillar addressed the discussion surrounding her 30-year age gap with Akshay Kumar.
The pair starred together in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, which was released on April 11, 2024.
Manushi played Captain Misha in the film, which also featured Tiger Shroff.
It was Manushi’s second film opposite Akshay following her acting debut in the 2022 historical drama Samrat Prithviraj.
Since the release of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, social media users have been talking about the age gap between Manushi and Akshay.
Manushi is 26 while Akshay is 56 years old.
Addressing the ongoing age gap discussion, Manushi said:
“Working with a superstar is good. You get a certain amount of visibility. If I talk about my first film, there was an age gap.
“They wanted to play the whole thing.
“In this film, there was no pairing. We did songs for marketing.
“There had to be a way to put two people together for the songs, but that’s pretty much it, which is fine.
“I don’t see it as something that was atrocious or something that shouldn’t have been there. It wasn’t like a love story anyway.”
A former Miss World, Manushi Chhillar has transitioned from pageantry to acting and she previously spoke about being an “outsider” in Bollywood.
She said: “Being an outsider comes with a sense of pride and believing in yourself.
“That’s because when you explore something absolutely new in your life, it builds a certain innate confidence that cannot be done if you keep exploring familiar shores.
“I agree being an outsider has its own set of challenges, but that’s what makes it more fun because I’ve always believed that anything that’s exciting is never easy.
“So, I am excited for my next films.”
Manushi acknowledged that winning an international beauty pageant gives you a “certain platform”.
“The whole country gets to know about you, and a lot of people want to launch you.
“It also gives you a lot of camera exposure before you actually enter the industry.”
However, she pointed out the disparities between pageantry and acting.
“At the same time, it (acting) is a very different field than being in a beauty pageant.
“There are many good things that Miss World adds, but at the end of the day, you’re an outsider, and you have to start your journey and understand the whole industry from level zero and grow from there.
“When you have lived a reserved student life, getting such public attention is a big change and it takes some getting used to. It can be a little overwhelming for a girl who’s only 20.”
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