"My first audition was for the role of Tapasya of Uttaran" : Farnaz Shetty

You have seen your favorite stars acting with perfection on-screen but do you know how much hurdles they have to cross to bag a role? They have to go through various auditions to get a role. We all cherish the memories related to our first day's experience of anything. Similarly an actor always cherishes his/her memories related to their first audition.

We quizzed pretty actress Farnaz Shetty who is playing Gunjan in Beyond Dreams' popular show Veera on Star Plus and asked her about her first audition and memories associated with it.

Talking about her first audition Farnaz told us, "The very first audition which I gave was for Uttaran at the age of 17. I gave an audition for the character of Tapasya and Ichcha for Uttaran. One of the casting person, who knew me told me that they are looking for a lead for their show so he suggested me to come for the audition. I knew nothing about acting then and had no plans to get into this field but I still went their randomly. Now, I have got to know about the technicalities of acting, facing the camera and about our feelings while acting and now I realize that how bad I was then (laughs). That day, I was giving an audition for the role of Tapsaya and I prepared myself for about an hour for the audition and then they told me that they also want me to give an audition for the role of Ichcha for which I was given only 10 minutes to prepare myself."

Farnaaz told us that how she met Rashmi Desai Sandhu that day who is currently playing the character of Tapasya in Uttaran. She told us, "I saw Rashmi giving an audition for this role and I didn't know her anything about her then. I just thought that she is some random girl who has come for the audition. So, seeing her giving audition so well, I asked her that how you did so well to which she just told me that you just have to feel it. I didn't know then Rashmi has earlier done so many works and she is an actress. I just casually talked to her seeing her giving a good audition."

Farnaaz further adds, "After my first audition, I took a long break and at the age of 20 years, I started getting offers and I started giving auditions for commercials. Still then also, I didn't have any plans to get into acting but one day, I just got a random thought that if I am getting so many offers that may be its written in my destiny. So, I joined theater after my graduation. I never had any contacts in this industry. All that happened to me was without any contacts in the industry. The first time when I seriously gave an audition was for Sony TV's Dil Ki Nazar Se Khoobsurat as the lead. The channel liked my audition and they wanted me as the lead but till then I wasn't too confident and I had fear of facing the camera. Then, I played one of the friends of Soumya Seth in the show and got appreciations from the actors in the show. Then, I gave an audition for Balika Vadhu and I did a cameo in it and the channel liked my work and they wanted me as the lead for their upcoming show Vibhuti but unfortunately it couldn't go on air. I couldn't wait and then I was called for giving an audition for the role of Veera in Veera."

"Then Satyajeet Dubey was finalized for the role of Ranvi and we were looking almost of the same age whereas I had to look younger than him. So, they thought of giving me the role of Gunjan and they liked me as Gunjan so this how I got the role of Gunjan," says Farnaaz about bagging the role of Gunjan in Veera.

We asked Farnaaz about any tips she would like to give to the acting aspirants. She told us, "Just keep in mind that grammar of acting is more important than glamor of the industry."

Anwesha Kamal