Juhi Chawla: Excited and anxious about IPL

With the IPL kicking off yesterday, actor-producer and the co-owner of Kolka Knight Riders team Juhi Chawla says she is both nervous and excited.
"Well, well well, the IPL has started and what shall I say about it? I am both scared and excited. I look forward to it because it's a lot of excitement and I also don't look forward to it also because it's a lot of anxiety. We won the last time round and iss saal toh sirf players hi nahi, hum pe, that is Shah Rukh and me, we will also be under a lot of pressure to retain the title," said Juhi who was in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate the International Children's Film Festival.
With three films released last year, including Gulaab Gang with Madhuri Dixit, Juhi said she's going easy on film signing this year. "There is one film that I have signed till now and it's yet to go on floors. Toh uske baare mein baat karte hain jab uski shooting shuru hogi," she said with a laugh. "Uske pehle toh main IPL mein hi itna busy rahungi," she added.
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Concentrating more on home, Juhi says she's in no hurry to do movies to add to the numbers. "I don't want to be under that pressure. I see these young heroines these days. They are under so much pressure. Every week there's a newcomer and now one has to do so much marketing, publicity, endorsement just to remain in the limelight. There's a lot now that one has to do to sustain in the industry. But for me, it's like I've been there, done that, have gotten married and had kids, yet I am being offered films. What more can I ask for? So I am enjoying this phase of my life where I can work without any pressure on me and at my own pace," said the actor.
Reacting to the episode of Anuskha Sharma's trolling on social media after India lost the Cricket World Cup semi-finals to Australia, Juhi said she will not touch that topic. “Mein iss baat pe aage baat nahi karna chahti hoon. Kyunki koi bhi chhoti baat ho jati hai and uss par baar-baar hum log dhyaan dete haintoh woh badi ho jati hai. Kisi ne ek stupid sa comment kiya Anushka par, phir kisi aur ne uss comment ko aur blow up kar diya, kisi aur ne ne uss pe aa ke bola ki aapne aisa kaise bol diya. Agar hum ispe aur charcha na karke ise nazar-andaaz kar den to yeh baat aayi-gayi ho jayegi. Aur iss se nari shakti ko koi fark nahi padne wala. Ek bahot hi cute sa message mujhe mila tha abhi on Women's Day ki 'congratulations to women because you are one half of the world and responsible for the other half.' So bhaiyya hum inn chhoti baaton se kyun affect hote hain? We should carry on with our beautiful lives.”
It's been a decade since Juhi's film My Brother Nikhil released and her friend Onir recently tweeted about it too. Telling us about the film Juhi said, “I've come a long way in the film industry and life in general in these ten years. There's so much that has changed in me and in the industry. I see my old film clips and think ki kya really maine yahi sab kiya hai?Kuch mein toh lagta hai maine yeh kiya kaise?Ek bahot hi rangeen sa sapna sa lagta hai ab. But when I think about the film it feels like yesterday. I remember bechare Onir ke paas paise hi nahi thay film banane ke liye. I still remember we had a shoe-string budget and five-star hotel mein sirf mujhe hi rakha gaya tha for the shooting kyunki baki actors ke liye paise hi nahi thay.Hum log ne aise shooting ki jaise college ka play hota hai. Sanjay Suri ki wife used to do up the sets. Kahin phool laga do, kahin parde laga do, it was all in house. But we really enjoyed making that film. And it feels wonderful that people still remember it,” she says with a smile while clapping her hands.
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