Cute no more! That is what fans are calling Rhea Chakraborty these days. She has posted a series of photos on Instagram and all have gone viral. Why won’t they? Every pic is hot AF. We all were somewhere waiting Rhea to shed that bubbly image and show us the sexier side of her. She is ruling the internet right now, so of course it was an opportunity for us to get in touch with Rhea. Here are excerpts from our chat:

What led you to make this cute to sexy transformation?

In my head it was not really a transformation when I was doing it. I was just bored with the whole angel of being called puppy and cute. I wanted people to know I am 24 now. I am not little young bubbly one. I think as an actor it is important to be able to be everything – hot, bubbly. I decided to do a photoshoot one fine morning and it turned out to be great, and I put it up on Instagram. And I am really happy with the reaction I am getting. Everyone is taking it very nicely.

So this was NOT a conscious decision to change your image?

People tell me “Oh! Now you are looking hot. I tell them I was always hot, in my head at least. In my head I haven’t made a transformation like that, people are saying that.

Many actresses have gone through transformations, and that has brought more opportunities. Do you think the same will happen for you?

You get stereotyped in one kind of movie and then keep getting same kind of roles. So if you have another side to your personality, it always helps. More opportunities come your way.

Do you think nepotism prevails in the industry, dominates the industry?

I don’t think like that, as such. Yes! Of course there are a lot of people from film families, but it is kind of similar to if you are from a doctor’s family, there is a possibility that you would want to become a doctor. You still have to study for it. You still have to go through years of training. Same way there are actors in Bollywood, who are star kids but it does not mean that they don’t deserve to be where they are. They only made it big because they are good. For example, I think Alia Bhatt is extremely talented. She is sweet looking, she gives phenomenal performance, and she works. so, I don’t quite agree with the idea (about nepotism).

Any piece of criticism you received for the photoshoot?

The only criticism I got initially was my mom saying “Beta what is going on? Take this off Instagram!”, you know “log kya sochenge” kind of stuff. But later when she saw the reaction and all the articles where people were praising, she only told me that “I take back my words. I’m very happy with the pictures.”

Lot of women in the industry like Nia Sharma, Monali Thakur are speaking up against slut-shaming. Do you also have to face trolls and crass remarks on social media? How do you deal with that?

I don’t get a lot, but one out of all there is someone talking rubbish. But you just have to ignore, and if you are going to feed it, they are going to talk more.  And there are small minded people, unfortunately, in our country- it’s quite sad. But I am not going to start a comment war, because I don’t think they are important. They don’t matter.

3 tips for a girl who wants to go from cute to sexy?

#First of all believe you are sexy. The moment you start believing that it starts showing in your attitude. and everybody around you start seeing that about you.

#A little mystery always helps.

#Wear very less make-up. It is the sexiest thing.

Finally, there were rumours that you are dating Harshvardhan Kapoor. Do you have something to say about that?

It is one very random piece of news. I do know Harsh. In fact he is a VERY dear friend. We do hang out once in a while. But this is a very random hoax, unfortunately, or fortunately.