'I need to disconnect from the stress, smell the roses, chase the butterflies...'
The process of working on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi and then vigorously promoting the series has left Manisha Koirala exhausted.
Manisha feels the need to detoxicate.
"I think I need to vamoose for awhile. I need to go somewhere. I need to focus on my health," Manisha tells Subhash K Jha.
"I am researching on which wellness retreat to go to. I need to get back to healthy eating and move ahead of the gym thing to pranayam and naturopathy, eating right walking."
She craves to find her lost rhythm in life.
"I need to go back to my regular life.
"The past three years were all about Heeramandi.
"We were so anxious to finally have it streaming.
"I need to disconnect from the stress, smell the roses, chase the butterflies...I am just sounding ridiculous (laughs).
"But yes, I need to just disconnect for a while."
Looking back at Heeramandi, Manisha feel grateful for having made so many friends.
"In this experience I loved everybody.
"I didn't know Sanjeeda Sheikh or Richa Chadha before. I had heard of Richa and how, like me, she had made it on her own.
"Sonakshi Sinha...I had seen her first film and then recently in Dahaad.
"I didn't know Sharmin, she was probably 1 year old when I did Khamoshi with her uncle Sanjay Bhansali. Of course I know her mother Bela (Segal, who edited her brother Sanjay's early films) well."
Manisha has special words of praise for one of her co-stars.
"I love Aditi Roy Hydari. She is so beautiful. And so full of praise for all my work.
"Fardeen Khan has always been a good boy.
"Shekhar Sumanji I knew because my best friend Deepti Naval and he had done a play."
Manisha admits there was no special bonding on the sets with her co-stars.
"Honestly, we girls were warm to one another, but we didn't really bond while working as we all had our own corner of the plot to inhabit.
"Even when we were working together we were all focussed on how to do our scenes correctly.
"It was a pleasure to see the same level of focus and dedication in my co-stars as me.
"We were all working towards the same goal, but individually. It was a very work-oriented atmosphere.
"We were trying to excel collectively and not at all competitively. Every actress was doing her best, as I was."
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
