No royal references please, says Soha

Mumbai: Don’t rub in the royalty, please! That seems to have been Soha Ali Khan’s underlying statement when at a public event, promoting her new film ‘Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns’, she made her displeasure clear at her royalty references being relentlessly rustled up.

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia said at the event that he chose Khan to play a princess in his film as she looked every inch the royalty in royal finery.

To this, she retorted: “Oh yes, I even sleep in royal clothes.”

Explaining her snappy response, Khan said: “It is true. When I was asked if I was comfortable playing my character because of my royal background, I did respond that way.

“But I was being facetious in merely stating how ‘unroyal’ my dress sense is. As a matter of fact, I am so bohemian in my dress code that only recently have I started wearing shoes instead of chappals. So I was actually making fun of myself!”

Having said this, she adds she is very proud of her royal antecedents.

“I embrace my identity. It is a privilege to come from the background that I do. And it is this background that put me in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s mind for my part as the princess in ‘Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns’. I am grateful for it,” said the daughter of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and late Mansour Ali Khan Pataudi, who was Nawab of Bhopal until 1971, when India abolished royal entitlements.