Typical Bollywood movies are not for me - Monica Dogra

Singer, actress, cover model for fashion magazines, Monica Dogra has slipped into all these roles with seamless ease. After an impressive Bollywod debut with Dhobi Ghat, Monica vanished from the Bollywood radar preferring to belt out hits as a singer. We caught up with the stunning singer cum actress at the Olay Project Beauty campaign where she was seen sharing the secrets of her skin care regime. You are multi-talented person. How do you skillfully juggle all these different roles? I have realized it's all in my control. If I don't like where I am at, I should change it. I think it's important to not stand in resistance of your own decisions. I am a workaholic, and at times I do feel incredibly burnt out. But, then I look back on what I have accomplished and I think, hell yeah. Was Bollywood always where you wanted to be? Well, I had nothing planned really. I was just following the signs and going wherever life took me. In Mumbai, I found a community of artists to build with and that was worth the risk. It's been quite a while since we have seen you in films. When will it happen? I am currently in the process of reading some scripts and am definitely open to doing more films. I just completed a film entitled Relapse in LA a few months ago, for which I fly to LA to attend the screening in a week’s time. I have just signed another project that we will shoot in NYC at the end of July. Things are really busy with my music, and I often feel like I am losing my mind. So, I don't have a burning desire to take on any more than what I already have. I am touring Europe this summer with my band, and shooting a tour film around the whole experience. I will be in LA, London, Berlin, Cologne, New York, and Toronto in just the next two months. That's enough for me. What kind of preparations did you undertake to prepare for your role in Relapse? Was there a workshop that you attended? Shooting Relapse was tough. It was grueling because I flew in, shot for two days, then I shot for five days and then I flew out. The time difference is exactly 12 hours so that was really tough but generally I think Relapse was one of those dream projects and I had to do it, there was no way I could not do it. There are a lot of things that I think actors do when portraying somebody who isn't a fictional character. A lot of research can go into playing such a character, but this character is purely fictional and, of course, I focused on creating her and I identified traits I believed she would have, traits which are not me, traits which are fictional — but no, I didn't draw on anything from real people. Talk us about your association with Olay Project Beauty? Olay Project Beauty is a one of a kind campaign to share the best beautiful story. The idea behind this was to share the secrets behind my skin care regime. Being a multi-tasker myself, I wanted to share my story with other women who juggle between their work and personal lives and amid all chaos are unable to give the desired attention to their skin. Olay offers a complete regimen to fight the early signs of ageing, making it possible for multitasking women to have their skin look young and firm. It takes care of all my skin worries and most importantly keeps me looking fresh and stress-free. Olay fights the early signs of ageing, making my skin look young and firm. What kind of Bollywood projects are you aiming to do? I am reading some scripts. I am definitely open to doing more films, but I have a natural filter. I will only do films that appeal to my sensibilities. I never wanted to do a Bollywood film in the first place. Typical Bollywood movies are not for someone like me. And I guess those directors won’t approach me for a role anyway.