Rakul Preet Singh is a self-made star. In over just seven years since her Bollywood debut, in the 2014 film "Yaariyan", she has negotiated well the uphill task of dealing with the outsider tag, and is today one of the busiest actresses in the Hindi film industry.

The actress attributes her success to her ability to not be cowed down, or be scared of losing stardom.

"Ultimately it boils down to when people start appreciating your work. That is all what you work for. That one smile that you bring on someone's face or when they come and say 'we loved that film of yours'. That just makes you so happy," Rakul tells IANS.

"I am not the kind of person who lives in fear. I came with nothing and I always see the brighter side that I got the opportunity where so many people want to do films. I got the opportunity and I'm living my dream!" she adds.

At 30, Rakul Preet is among Bollywood's sought-after actresses, and has a long line-up of films over the next months. Currently, she awaits the release of the OTT film "Sardar Ka Grandson", co-starring Arjun Kapoor. She has "Mayday" coming up, with Amitabh Bachchan and the film's actor-director Ajay Devgn. In "Attack, she shares screen space with John Abraham. She also has "Thank God" with Ajay Devgn and Sidharth Malhotra, Kamal Haasan's "Indian 2" and the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer "Doctor G".

"There is so much love from the audience and the constant thought is to just keep doing work and hoping to entertain, to try doing different kinds of work," she says.

Rakul made her acting debut in the 2009 Kannada film "Gilli", and her Telugu debut in "Keratam" the same year. A year later, she made her Tamil debut in "Thadaiyara Thaakka".

In Bollywood, many consider the 2019 comedy hit "De De Pyaar De", co-starring Ajay Devgn and Tabu, her coming-of-age role. She has also been seen in "Marjaavan" and "Aiyaari".

Ask her what is important -- script or the character -- Rakul replies she operates in the theory of "permutation and combination".

"For me, what is important is -- it is a permutation and combination. Sometimes you choose a film because you love the story and you want to be a part of the message of the film or the entire setup of the film itself. Sometimes you go by your character and the script. Sometimes you go by the actor and director," Rakul says.

She adds: "It is always the permutation and combination. It is subjective to each film."

Talking about why she did "Sardar Ka Grandson", Rakul said it was the emotion of the film that decided it for her.

"It was the emotion of the film. It is such a sweet film. It talks about the grandson going to any extent to fulfil the grandmother's wish," she sums up the gist of her upcoming film, slated to release on Netflix on May 18.

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