Acting Courses Can’t Teach You How To Act : Barkha Singh

Kuch meetha ho jaye with Amitabh Bachchan

I have done a Cadbury ad with Amitabh Bachchan. I was around 14-15 years old then and went with my mom for the shoot. As soon as we reached, he came and shook hands with her. He was really nice and warm and punctual.

Recently, I was offered an ad with Alia Bhatt but I refused it. If you have Alia Bhatt in an ad, the focus will obviously be on her. Why should I waste my time and energy just to be her friend in an ad? I consciously avoid ads in which they are going to cast a hero or heroine.

Yashraj and Mujhse Dosti Karoge

I did a movie with Yash Raj Films when I was child.

I played Kareena Kapoor’s younger version in Mujhse Dosti Karoge, which also starred Rani Mukerji and Hrithik Roshan. I was in Class IV then.

The shooting happened mainly in Switzerland and Manali. Yash Raj is extremely lavish. When we were travelling, they booked the entire plane. They booked the whole resort in Manali for the cast and crew.

I was a fussy eater when I was young. My mom would run behind me to coax me to eat. One day, Rani saw that. From then on, every day, she would make me sit with her for dinner and eat one bowl of dal-chawal (rice and lentils). She would tell me, “’Till you don’t finish this, you are not getting up.”

Rani, Kareena and Hrithik were very chilled out. Since we did not have long shooting hours, we had lots of time for ourselves and would go cycling around the place.

Hrithik and Kareena gifted me a Cinderella Barbie doll. I have not opened it till date; it is still in its original packaging.

I am not in touch with any of them but, a couple of year years after the film, I was asked to host an award function for (the children’s channel) POGO. Hrithik was to give away one of the awards. I asked him if he remembered me and reminded him about Mujhse Dosti Karoge. He was shocked and said, “Oh my God, you have become so big!”

The only thing Hrithik remembered was the flight from Chandigarh to Manali in a 17-seater plane. We were crossing a mountain (in the Himalayas) and there was a lot of turbulence. It was a scary ride and everyone was screaming.