Ileana D’Cruz says Bollywood wasn’t on her checklist when Barfi came her way: ‘Anurag Basu just told me, You’re my Shruti'

It has been 13 years since Ileana D’Cruz made her big Bollywood debut with Barfi, co-starring Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor. Marking the milestone, the actress reflected on how the Anurag Basu directorial wasn’t something she had planned, and in fact, it came to her at what she describes as a “very random time.”

‘I didn’t plan my career’

Speaking to NDTV, Ileana admitted that she never had a roadmap for her acting journey. She revealed that she hadn’t even planned on becoming an actor in the first place, and when she did step into the industry, she simply looked at it as a job. Formal training in acting wasn’t part of her background, and she insisted that it was never a concrete plan to “get to Bollywood after so many years of working in the South.”

‘Barfi wasn’t the story I thought I would get’

Looking back at the film, the actress said that Barfi came her way while she was busy in the South industry. It wasn’t the kind of debut she had imagined for herself. Instead of a full-blown masala entertainer, she found herself offered a story that was niche, even though it was a commercial film in its own way. Ileana admitted it took her some time to decide whether she should do it.

How Anurag Basu convinced her

The actress confessed that saying yes to the project wasn’t immediate. Director Anurag Basu had to convince her in his own style. Ileana recalled how he once shot her on a handycam under the guise of a casual chat, and when it ended, he simply told her, “You’re my Shruti.” That one line, she said, sealed her decision.

Work and personal life updates

Professionally, Ileana was last seen in Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024), a romantic comedy that also starred Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, and Sendhil Ramamurthy.

On the personal front, her life has been equally eventful. In 2023, she married Michael Dolan in an intimate ceremony and welcomed their first child, Koa Phoenix Dolan, in August. Just this year, on June 19, 2025, the couple embraced parenthood once again with the arrival of their second son, Keanu Rafe Dolan.