'I was careless about my career'

The 30-year-old actor has worked in more than 15 films in her six year-long career in the South, before making a debut in the Hindi film industry with Barfi in 2012.

"I keep joking, I was the Akshay Kumar of South, I used to do four films a year. He does good films, but some films of mine were good, some weren't. I was just signing films, there wasn't this thing of 'wanting to do good work'," Ileana told recently.

The Mubarakan actor says she eventually decided to get her feet "back on ground" and focus on taking her career forward.

"I told myself, this is never really going to last for a long time, about time I start doing good work. Then I put my head into it completely... I had no idea about the South film industry and how it worked.

"When I was offered a film there, I thought how would I do it, I don't even speak the language. When I started doing it, I was like anyway people won't watch my film even if I do bad in it. It was a very stupid, carefree and careless attitude that I had." Ileana says she was approached for Bollywood films long before Barfi! hit theatres but she wasn't prepared at the time.

"I did get Bollywood offers even before my first South film and I am thankful that I didn't make a mess of it.