100% was supposed to mark Sajid Khan's return to the director's chair. Shehnaaz Gill, John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh and Nora Fatehi were all signed on when the film was announced around four years ago. It never got made. And Gill, speaking to Hindustan Times, sounds entirely unbothered about that now.

"Main utna serious leti nahin hun in cheezon ko," she said. "Mujhe aisa lagta hai ki nahin hui acha hua, kyunki kuch cheezein nahin banne mein hi bhalai hoti hai." Her logic is simple. Until a project is actually finished and ready, she'd rather not talk about it at all, because plans fall apart all the time and she doesn't want to be the one answering for it later. "Mujhe pata hai kal ko nahin hua to log sawaal karenge aur main unko jawab kya dungi," she said. "Logon ki umeedein bhi ban jati hain, to main wo todna nahin chahti."

It's a fair position to hold, given the timing. 100% was meant to be a real turning point for Gill back when she was still shifting away from television and reality shows into films. That shift stalled a bit. Her last Hindi release was Thank You For Coming in 2023, and since then her Hindi film work has mostly been in shorter parts rather than lead roles.

What's actually kept her busy is Punjabi cinema. Singh vs Kaur 2, opposite Gippy Grewal, is running in theatres right now, and it's part of a pattern. Gill has been picking up meatier roles in Punjabi films while her Hindi output has thinned out, and when asked if she's holding out for the right Hindi project, she made it clear that language isn't really the filter anymore.

"Mujhe impactful role hi nahin mile," she said. "Jo bhi roles maine kiye, wo impactful nahin the. So, I sat with myself and told myself to choose accordingly, irrespective of the language."

Gill's rise, of course, traces back to Bigg Boss 13, the season hosted by Salman Khan that she finished as second runner-up, with Sidharth Shukla taking the win. She's built a fairly wide body of work since, television and film both, but her comments suggest she's now being far more selective about what she actually signs and, more importantly, what she talks about before the cameras even roll.

So don't expect an announcement the next time she's attached to something big. Going by what she's said, the next Shehnaaz Gill project worth discussing will be one that's already in the can.