Actress Elena Fernandes: Working in 'EK Villain Returns' was like a dream come true!

I'm an academic at heart. I did my undergrad at King's College. Then I did my LPC, and I combined it with a master's in international law, and I juggled a very successful modelling career. I worked a lot in London and in America. Then I got the call to do Vogue India. I came to India. I shot lots of editorials. Then I did TV commercials and campaigns. And then Dharma Productions cast me in 'Kapoor and Sons'.

I was in London and I got a call from the producer, Amul Mohan and he said, Elaina, we've got this great character and this film. We'd love for you to read the character and, you know, do a test for it. See if this is something you want to do. And obviously, I knew the director was Mohit Suri, who's just a phenomenal director. I did the test. I came to India for a meeting with him. We developed the character of Quiran with the Q and everyone loved the character in the film. It made a lot of people laugh.

For me, it was such an incredible experience particularly because I also had to perform a song. So when you're singing, dancing and acting, that's very hard. But it was just a great experience. I was working with amazing actors like Arjun Kapoor, Tara Sutaria, and a seasoned director Mohit Suri. Then John and Disha were there. It was like a dream come true. And when we had the screening in Mumbai, when you have these amazing talents laughing because your character is so funny and they're telling you how much they loved the character. It’s like a job well done, you know.

No, I wanted to become an astronaut and work with NASA. Then I wanted to become a spy, then a lawyer. And now I am an actor.

It's all because I can always go back to law later in life. For now, I use my legal knowledge wherever required. I do my own contracts, everything like that.

Right now I'm doing it by myself. I do have plans to speak to the BMC, but for the past five years now I've been doing it by myself. I focus on mass sterilisations of the strays. I have a brilliant team who do neutering even when I'm not in town. They are also well aware of the law.

My father has always loved animals. My grandfather loved animals. When I was eight years old, my parents gave me two cats and they lived for 18 years. And I've got lots of Indian cats that I brought to London, and I've had dogs, hamsters. My sister has rabbits. I've always loved animals because I feel like they always give you unconditional love. And if I can help in developing compassion for animals and strays among people, it will be a great satisfaction for me. A lot of people in India are now compassionate towards strays, they are gentle towards them, which is very nice to see.

Yes, I've got a lot of police support and it's just that I personally have never had an issue. They've always been very supportive.

I will soon be registering the name of my organisation, which is ‘I am changed’ because I feel that everyone can bring a change to society. But other than that, we do a lot of fundraising. I'm also very involved with Samovila Foundation which helps disabled strays. And, you know, as you saw on my social media, I talk about it a lot. I promote it a lot. So, we're spreading the message out there.

I've always loved the concept of circular fashion as a way to express ourselves through our unique styles while also protecting the planet. So this concept of sharing my wardrobe favourites for a charity sale with Dolce Vee worked perfectly. I loved raising funds for a cause close to my heart while connecting with my fans and community in a unique way!

I think nepotism exists everywhere, not just in Bollywood. It's everywhere. And yes it does. But I mean, like if I was from one of those families and if my child wants to do films, I of course, would support my child. And then it's up to the audience if they accept that or not.

I have one film which hasn't been announced yet that comes out in December of this year. And then I've got a South Project that I will soon start working on. I'm really looking forward to it.