In Sonakshi Sinha’s latest film, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s courtroom drama System on Prime Video India, she plays a budding lawyer and the daughter of a top advocate (played by Ashutosh Gowariker), who requires her to win 10 cases in a row as a public prosecutor if she wants to serve as a partner at his reputed law firm. “What is this reverse nepotism?’,” her character asks in the film.
But Sonakshi tells SCREEN in an exclusive interview that she’s never had to face “reverse nepotism” in her real life, even though her father Shatrughan Sinha is a veteran actor. He had no direct part to play in launching her, as Sonakshi made a dream debut opposite Salman Khan in Abhinav Kashyap’s 2010 hit Dabangg.
‘My dad has been a silent supporter’
“My father has always given me the freedom to choose my path, right since when I was studying fashion designing. That was the path I’d chosen for myself. Life chose another path for me. That’s a different story,” she says, smiling. “He’s always been a silent supporter. No matter what happens, he’ll have my back. To have that kind of strength and support from your father means a lot to a girl in today’s day and age,” she adds.
Sonakshi Sinha plays a budding lawyer in System.
The only advice she got from her father once she turned an actor? “You go do your thing, and I know you’d do well.” Sonakshi admits those words have given her “wings”. Unlike her onscreen father in System, Shatrughan Sinha has never been a taskmaster. “My dad is very soft. He looks tough and does all this ‘khamosh, vamosh, and all’, but he’s very soft,” she says, laughing. But the softness doesn’t imply that he’d sugarcoat the criticism for his daughter.
“He does tell me where it’s due. Everybody knows that about my father that he’s very honest and transparent, and he says it when he needs to say it. So, I always appreciate it when he comes to me with the honest, honest truth,” adds Sonakshi, who’s shared screen space with him only once, for their cameos in the song “Rafta Rafta Medley” from the 2018 action comedy Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se.
‘There was a shift in me with Akira’
Shatrughan Sinha, a true-blue commercial star of the 1970s and the 1980s, also never interfered in Sonakshi’s career trajectory. After playing the leading lady in money-spinners like Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, Son of Sardaar, Dabangg 2 (2012), R… Rajkumar (2013), and Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014), Sonakshi couldn’t help headline her own action movie, AR Murugadoss’ Akira in 2016. She agrees that there was a shift in her mindset and consequently, career choices after that.
“Hundred percent, and that clearly shows in the choices of my films after. I didn’t want to settle for roles anymore,” asserts Sonakshi. “I needed meatier parts. I needed to portray women in a certain light on screen, which made me feel empowered more than anything else. I started choosing my roles in a way where all my characters had agency. They were relatable, aspirational, and strong in their opinions and ways,” adds the actor.
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Sonakshi Sinha in Akira.
Of course, choosing that path has come with its own share of setbacks. Films like Noor (2017), Welcome to New York (2018), Kalank (2019), Khandaani Shafakhana (2019), Double XL (2022), and Nikita Roy (2025) haven’t exactly landed at the box office. “Honestly, I’ve been better off. There have been hits and misses, films that have worked and those that haven’t, but that’s fine because the process of playing those characters was so fulfilling for me as an actor that I finally feel like I’m doing the right thing,” confesses Sonakshi.
But even the shift within her hasn’t deterred Sonakshi from continuing to pick tentpoles like Force 2 (2016), Dabangg 3 (2019), Bhuj: The Pride of India (2021), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024), and Jatadhara (2025). But she maintains that she didn’t strike this balance out of fear. “There was no fear. I’ve done everything. I’ve done the singing and dancing around the trees. I’ve done the films where I had to be in four scenes and one song. I enjoy watching those kinds of films also,” she clarifies.
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Sonakshi maintains that her journey has been “fulfilling” and “wholesome” only because of diverse choices like these. “I’ve done a Lootera and I’ve done a Rowdy Rathore. I started with Dabangg, and I’ve done a solo action film like Akira. And no regrets! Those films gave me the strength and confidence in me carrying films on my shoulders. Every film had a part to play in the actor that I am today,” she adds.
