Dad taught me to stick up for what is right: Sonakshi Sinha

On Wednesday, September 9, Sonakshi Sinha spoke up against the four-day ban on the slaughter and sale of meat in the city during the Jain festival of fasting.

The ban was proposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and she reacted to it by tweeting, "This is a free country!

Welcome to BAN-istan... I meant india.. Stupid autocorrect(sic)." She was instantly trolled, called 'fat', 'stupid' and a 'wretched creature', and warned to stay away from such debates as she belongs to a 'loser khandaan'. Sonakshi, whose dialogue from her debut film, Dabangg, "Thappad se darr nahin lagta sahib, pyaar se lagta hai" is as oft-repeated as dad Shatrughan Sinha's "Khamosh", refused to be cowed down by the barbs flying, fast and furious, on the social networking site. Asking the trollers to get a life, she tweeted, "Welcome to twitter. Whr only trolls r allowed to have their say, yep, the only space they shud be takin up in life is the 140 chars here! And the best part is, trolls think they are relevant, while we carry on with our happy and positive lives. god bless you all!"

A day later, speaking to Mirror from Budapest, the actress insisted she was not at all upset with all the talk of cows and buffaloes. "I've grown up putting bullies in their place, that too face-to-face. Cyber bullies are cowards hiding behind a veil of anonymity, they are irrelevant," she dismissed, adding that none of these "psychos" would have the guts to speak to anyone like this in person. "Forget me or any other celebrity, if they speak to anyone like this, they'll get slapped. It's best to ignore than bring yourself down to their level."

It's surprising that she would want to challenge the BJPsupported ban given that her dad is a member of the ruling party? "My dad is the one who has taught me to stand up for what is right," she retorted. "Even during the elections, he always encourages us to vote for the right person irrespective of the party. I'm an apolitical person myself and prefer not to be dragged into such discussions."

Last year, she was campaigning for animal rights, this year, she is protesting against stoppage of slaughter. What is her stand on the subject? "Where's the connection between the two here?" she argued. "That's what most of the "trolls" failed to see as well. One is for food, the other is just killing."

Reasoning that you cannot impose your eating habits based on religion and politics onto others, Sonakshi pointed out that tomorrow vegetarians could be expected to start eating meat during a certain festival. "I wasn't speaking up only against the meat ban, I was talking in general about a lot of things which have been banned in the recent past," she stated. Has auto correct caused problems for her before this? That sparks off a sharp reply, "It was sarcasm and not actually auto correct. I wasn't expecting this question."

Several B-town celebs who have been trolled have gone off Twitter. Did she ever want to quit? "Why should I go off social media? It's my domain, I have an equal right to express my views as anyone else. I'm not one of those to back down," she says forcefully. "Anyway, the experience has been more positive than negative so I don't see the reason to do so."

Meanwhile, the dates for the Bihar elections have been announced. Starting October 12, they will happen in five phases with counting on November 8. Her dad is believed to be a strong contender for the Chief Minister's chair. Will she campaign for him? "No, he hasn't asked me to. I'm a nonpolitical person so he doesn't expect me to," she says. What's it like matching punches with John Abraham in Budapest on Force 2? "It's great working with John, I feel confident and excited," she avers.

Has she had to undergo any kind of special training or prep for the action scenes? Sonakshi reasons that her mixed martial arts training from her last film, Akira, will come in handy for the Force sequel. "I will be working with an amazing action team from South Africa who are clear and organised in what they want to bring to the screen. I will train with them as we shoot and learn the moves," she says with admirable self assurance.

Another interesting film is Apoorva Lakhia's biopic on Dawood Ibrahim's sister, Haseena Parker. What kind of prep will that require? Sonakshi reveals that a lot of the research has already been done by the makers who have shared a lot of the material with her to help her understand the character. "I'll have to meet her daughters at some point of time to gauge the kind of person she was and understand her nuances. I will have to get the language and accent right," she says.

Her first TV appearance on the talent hunt show, Indian Idol Junior, fuelled speculations about a playback debut. "I wouldn't want to jump into playback without a little prep," Sonakshi says cautiously. "Whenever I can devote some time to it, I will. I enjoy singing as much as dancing. I definitely want to explore that.