2018 is an extremely exciting year for me: Kiara Advani

New Delhi: Actress Kiara Advani, who made her acting debut with the 2014 release Fugly, went on to star in successful films like M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and the Telugu political drama Bharat Ane Nenu. With Kalank and her digital anthology Lust Stories, she is excited for 2018 and says being versatile is her goal.

"2018 is an extremely exciting year for me as I'm exploring a wider audience... I'm doing a film in a language that I don't know and working hard to master that, then there is a film for Netflix which will reach a global audience and of course the Hindi language film. The ability to reach out to such a diverse audience is just the most exciting," Kiara told IANS in an e-mail interview.

Lust Stories, an Indian anthology film, consists of four short film segments directed by four different directors: Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar and she says that the benefit of showing it digitally is that there is no restriction on creativity.

"Honestly, when we shot the film we didn't know Netflix wanted to pick it up. It's also the perfect platform given the content, it's important (that) the film caters to the right audience and is not restricted creatively. 

"While I was blessed to have Karan Sir (Karan Johar) direct me and hold my hand throughout, the character despite being a challenging role was liberating to perform," said Kiara, who is also Pond's brand ambassador. 

She is also excited about Kalank, a film directed by Abhishek Varman and produced by Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiadwala and Fox Star Studios. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Sanjay Dutt in the lead roles.

"It's a beautifully written special appearance. And it's the first time I'll be seen in a commercial item song. To top it, it's a period film so the costume and the look is very different for me, even I haven't seen myself looking this way before. 

"This is the first time I'm working with Manish Malhotra for a film so you can only imagine how glamorous his vision is and that was exciting. We have almost finished shooting my part for the film, I'm now looking forward to shooting with Madhuri Ma'am and sharing screen space with her is the cherry on the icing," she said.

Kiara says that she wants to be an actor who can slip into any character without any baggage or stereotype.

"Being versatile is my goal," she said.

But what about the complications in the film industry right now ?

"Personally, I feel blessed to be doing what I love doing so I focus on the positives and don't know any other way of being. I can't compare the times since I've only experienced this generation and I feel blessed to be chosen to play strong female characters," said the 25-year-old.

The actress also says that "If you're good you'll stay."

" But what's important is luck and opportunity because no matter how good you are, if nobody gives you that opportunity then no one will ever know," she said.