Don't look at myself as a celebrity: Ileana

Ileana D'Cruz, who has been acting in films since 2006, says she doesn't consider herself to be a "so-called personality or a star".

In September, Ileana shot a video for a brand. She spoke about her struggles with body dysmorphic disorder for 15 years.

Asked how difficult it is for a personality to open up about personal problems, Ileana told IANS over phone from Mumbai: "I don't personally look at myself as a 'so-called personality, a star or a celebrity'. First and foremost, I am a normal human being like everyone else. For me, it was just opening up about issues that people don't talk about that often."

Ileana says speaking up would help in bringing "more awareness".

"I didn't look at it from this perspective that I'm an actor and it will be harder. I just wanted to talk about it thinking if I could help someone," she added.

The actress, 30, believes that being aware that there is a problem and that you need to address it, is important.

"Talking about it, opening up about it and sharing what you are going through obviously will help. But the eventual changes can only come from within you," she said.

It's a long process, stressed Ileana.

"It's not easy but for me, it was all about saying that 'You can get there, you can get to the other end and you can get out of it if not ducking forever. You will get out of it'," she added.

Ileana, who has starred in Tamil and Telugu films, made her Bollywood debut in filmmaker Anurag Basu's 2012 movie "Barfi!". Since then she has featured in several Hindi films like "Phata Poster Nikhla Hero", "Main Tera Hero", "Happy Ending", "Rustom", "Mubarakan" and "Baadshaho".

She describes her six-year journey in Bollywood as a "roller-coaster ride".

"I feel like no film is the same experience. I love that I get to learn something new with every single film that I do. It's a great job - in total, it's been 11 years for me that I've been working and I have loved it. I can't wait for even more years to come along," she said.

But does she have any regrets?

"Not really! I think if I had any regrets, I wouldn't be where I am today. Mistakes that you make, shape you as a person that you are today and I'm happy with whatever I did," said the actress, whose film "Mubarakan" will air on Sony Max on Saturday.

She added that there were also mistakes that she made along the way but they made her "stronger" and "a better person".

"And made me who I am today. So, no regrets whatsoever," she said.

(Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)

--IANS

dc/nn/bg