Q1. What inspired you to pursue a career in your field, and how have your experiences shaped your professional identity ?
I’ve always looked at Madhuri Dixit, She seems like an all rounder to me. She’s graceful. She emanates radiance and warmth and joy, and wherever she goes, she spreads smiles.
I’m a classical dancer too, I am a microbiologist! I pretty much wanted to follow her footsteps. Something about her personality and the part that I wished to have a similar influence on my audience inspired me to pursue a career in acting. So far my experiences have been really nice. Professional identity is something I’m unable to understand the term very well because I believe it’s not just being a professional actor. You wear many other responsibilities as well. I mean to say, you wear many other roles of responsibility as well.
Q2. Have you ever faced challenges in maintaining a healthy balance between your personal life and professional commitments? If so, how did you overcome them ?
Yes my personal life is just about my parents. It’s all about my parents. I come from a nuclear family. I’m the only child, so definitely parents; they are everything to me. There are loads of times when I probably want to see my father. He lives in a different city because mom and I live in Bombay for my work, she accompanies me. She’s my manager, so if want to see my dad, but he’s busy because of his work I am not able to meet him. So the professional commitment is not the problem but it’s because we live in different cities, my professional commitment keeps me away from my birth city, Calcutta. We just go on family trips Mom, dad and I, we just take off. A lot of hotels reach out to me and they are happy to host my parents and I. Or we just take off and I ask my father to come visit us in Mumbai. Other than that, when you talk about personal life, like on the love front of it’s difficult. It’s difficult to date an actor because not everyone has the palate for the good things in life.
Q3. How do your personal values align with your professional goals, and how does this alignment influence your decision-making ?
This is a tough one when I talk about personal values I think something I absolutely never compromise is making time for myself. A lot of actors or people think that actor means, you just have to be there for your audience your fans or always on camera, always looking good. I like a little bit of normalcy. One of the important core values that I have is I strongly want to be sometimes normal. I want to just wear the most normal looking clothes not very dressed up and not very dolled up. And I wish to go to a gym or I wish to go for a walk on the 7th floor which is a common area in my building. And I wish to also probably go to a restaurant and just be on my own like at a cafe like how I would do in Europe or somewhere. That’s my personal value. And I don’t know how that clashes with my professional goal because we are expected to act a certain way. Being an actor I have to be careful of whom I’m seen with. That’s the only thing I guess.
“Yes my personal life is just about my parents. It’s all about my parents. I come from a nuclear family. I’m the only child, so definitely parents; they are everything to me. Healthy balance in the sense there are loads of times when I probably want to see my father.”
Q4. Can you share some highlights of your current projects or work that you find particularly fulfilling or challenging ?
Sharing some highlights of my current project or work and how I find it fulfilling or challenging. The first answer would be fulfilling for sure. Because as the days and years have progressed for me in the industry, I have realized I have gotten a variety of roles, which means I’m quite versatile as an actor. That’s a very good compliment coming from the scripts that I’m reading. That feels nice that I can be a very funny girl next door. I can also be a very serious character somebody who’s much more ahead of me in my age. I can also play something like an absolute femme fatale. That’s one of my favorites. Yes and the challenging part is getting typecast because it’s happened after ashram. Just because once I agreed to do an intimate scene you know it kind of has gone against me because sadly people think a kissing scene has been made a huge deal in the Indian market because people think once an actress has done a kissing scene or suggestive kissing scenes or fake or fabricated lovemaking scenes because people don’t know the truth that these are not real scenes. They are staged they are fabricated, and they are not real. I’m not really in love with my co-actor and I’m not really doing it with full intensity. So that’s been a bit challenging for sure because I’ve been rejecting a lot of scripts which typecast me into accepting similar roles I guess.
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Q5. What accomplishments in your career do you feel most proud of, and how have they contributed to your professional growth ?
I personally feel in my career I’m extremely proud of the fact that I’ve been patient. A lot of girls my age a lot of young women my age end up giving up too easily or going at alternatives. And when I say alternatives I’m very strongly saying that you know it could be just you know going with the flow and getting swayed in the company of certain spaces which where you don’t wish to be seen. You know, being an actor means you hold your reputation you hold your guard, and you have to be very careful where you’re seeing how you’re seeing whom you’re seeing with your every action has to be you know measured because they have consequences. So I would definitely say that I’m very proud of being patient with myself and that has helped me with my professional growth because I’m very proud to say I’m not a part of any scandal and neither do I wish to be.
Q6. Where do you see yourself professionally in the next five years, and what steps are you taking to work towards that vision ?
When I open my vision board the next five years, I just don’t see myself as an actor. Being celebrated for just being an actor is not enough for me. I think I love the path that healthy lifestyle, wellbeing wellness has been a beautiful part of my life growing up because my parents are very healthy individuals. We have a good lifestyle and they have influenced me to join them in that same I mean you know to walk the same path. So the next five years, I’m also building an IP on wellness. And I wish to be associated with wellness, well-being nutrition all of that on a very big front because the subject that I’ve studied has always pushed me to understand how wellness wellbeing impact our mental health and eventually productivity in work. So other than just doing amazing product projects in Bollywood which you’re going to see soon that’s there for sure. I definitely want to work with Varun Dhawan and yeah we’re going to shake a leg together for sure. You will also see us doing pushups together I’m sure which is not just for a film.
Q7. Are there specific skills or areas of expertise you aim to develop over the next ten years to enhance your life trajectory ?
Yes. I wish to definitely get into writing. I think I’ve always been very good at creative writing back in school. I do take pride in the fact that I think my English is good. So I clearly remember when I was a kid, my mum, dad, we all would only speak in English, and every one of my friends would be like why do traditional parents only talk in English? But today I’m glad that we did.
Q8. What would you say has been the most crucial aspect to you achieving this level of success ?
I would say a strong foundation, because when I say foundation I do not just say family I mean values. I mean the part that I do have a great circle of friends you know having the right set of friends, family, education with respect to a good schooling, platform, exposure, travel and everything has helped me achieve this intense confidence without which it wouldn’t have been possible because the point of considering a successful life or a happy life is nothing but owning what you are doing and owning what you’re about to do.
Q9. How do you recharge and find balance in your personal life, especially during particularly hectic or challenging periods in your career ?
Are there specific skills or areas of expertise that I aim to develop over the next ten years to enhance my life trajectory? Yes, I wish to definitely get into writing.
Q10. How do you foster inclusivity and diversity within your team or organization, while keeping in mind the importance of maintaining structural integrity ?
Wow, that is a very interesting question. I mean, so many words which seem so corporate out there but I will only say one thing. Every organization or team that I work with is different. Different set of directors a different set of production. I mean producers actors different type of environment cities. So there’s only change which is possible and acceptable in this field of work. So the only constant that I can hold is my sanity because with ever changing people and their moods and their way of working. When you’ve worked that out with yourself you can just take on any team and organization and it just works fine.
“I personally feel in my career I’m extremely proud of the fact that I’ve been patient. A lot of girls my age a lot of young women my age end up giving up too easily or going at alternatives.”
Q11. What challenges do you face in balancing professional responsibilities with personal commitments, and how do you address them ?
I love how all the questions are based about Professional, personal. Yes it’s a constant weighing of the scales that happen. Balance is not possible. Whoever tells you balance is possible is lying to you because there are times when your personal life takes over. Things are on a whirlwind where no matter how much you try you’re just crying to yourself because you can’t figure something out. You have to sometimes choose one for the other because you have to prioritize your personal life at times and you have to prioritize your professional life at times.
Q12. What initiatives or projects have been close to your heart or compelled you to take action or raise your voice ?
Yes I feel something about an intimacy coordinator is very essential on sets. India has finally incorporated this very seriously. But then one thing which they have not taken into account is digital footprint of the scenes of that particular web clip or that film clip which goes viral on a lot of you know unwanted sites like pornography sites and everything which ideally they should monitor as much as they should because if they have copyright issues on a lot of their other kind of scenes then why should they take the thrill of letting an intimate scene, which an actor has done for their particular OTT platform go viral ? I know there’s not much that we can do but there is also a lot that they can do and they should do so. This is certainly something which I think I have tried to raise my voice and I will further.
Q13. Do you feel that you have used your position to advocate for gender equality and support other women in your industry ? If so, when ?
When I read a question like gender equality it makes me laugh. I’ll be honest with you because I’m not a feminist. I’m happy to have a debate here but in particular if you’re asking me about gender equality there’s nothing like that that exists. Men have certain shoes to fill. Women have bigger roles to fill. So ideally in certain cases, we women are way ahead of men. So I don’t think it works that way that men and women get to be equal. So the concept of equal pay also doesn’t come. The concept of pay grade is not even the same as how in a corporate structure CEO or a CA formed gets paid right. It’s pretty much what I’m quoting what my market value is how I take it from there. So I rest my case. I don’t think the term equality works with this.
Q14. In what ways do you strive to be a role model for future generations of women leaders ?
I strike off women leaders and also tell you I wish to have an equal impact of on men. I know this is an interview on Women’s Day and we talk about women empowerment but the empowerment does not come with only empowering the women. It actually comes with educating little boys back home or which grew up to be young adolescent and then eventually young adults and eventually men who support women in becoming leaders. So I think the math begins and the influence begins, at a very young age. It’s a son of the family that needs to be educated about it so that it helps somebody has to break the chain. I think a lot of women suffer from this. They’re made to sit at home or they may need to feel that they constantly need to be constricted. I totally think that structure should change. So eventually I want to be a role model for women and men and lead them to a space of equality here that you need to fuel each other emotionally and so that you can be thriving together career wise and also as a couple.
Q15. How can society create a more supportive environment for women to thrive in positions of power or have access to equal opportunities as men ?
I don’t think we need to be equals to men. Women absolutely have more much better leadership capabilities. Like for instance in a board meeting I did observe and one of the series I was watching very interestingly how a woman handles you know being a board member and how a man handles. My point is men get into the absolute core of the business and try to throw their alpha weight around. However a woman feels more like a solution maker like how she would be a homemaker. She ends up becoming a solution maker and it’s the estrogen in her body and the lack of testosterone that helps us decide better.
