"MAYBE FIVE YEARS DOWN THE LINE, YASH RAJ WILL OFFER ME A FILM"
I have seen few actresses and have met almost none who can carry off the girl-next-door look as easily as the most sought after hottie. Most of them can be slotted into just one of these categories. So when I met Sanaya Irani, I came across the unexpected. Dressed in a simple salwar kameez, teamed up with atrociously nerdy spectacles (her character's get-up), Sanaya is blessed with such a face and personality, that she can carry off any look with lan, a characteristic, which is a boon in her profession.
After playing a babe in Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi, and a uniformed cadet in Left Right Left, she is now melting hearts through the role of the demure Gunjan in Mile Jab Hum Tum rather effortlessly.
Sanaya seems passionate about her work and is not known to throw her weight around. Be it a spot boy on the sets, a fellow actor, or an inquisitive journalist, Sanaya knows how to handle each one, without crossing lines. As I see her getting ready for her next shot in an unbelievable frenzy, I learn from her that she never aspired to be an actress.
Like many of us are forced to become doctors or engineers by our parents, just so that we can accomplish their unfulfilled ambitions, Sanaya did something similar to please her mother.
"Nothing was planned, it just happened. I graduated from college and was planning to do an MBA. But my mom suggested that before I did that, I should take a year off and get into acting and do commercials etc. Everyone told me I have a good face. Like any mother, my mom thought that her daughter looks the best.
So I was like okay, if you say so, I'll give it a shot. But I was not very keen on acting. First of all I couldn't speak Hindi and I was very conscious of the camera. But my mom was really insistent, so for her sake, I clicked my portfolio and one then thing led to another. I never landed up doing my MBA," she says.
She happened to approach actor Boman Irani, who was a photographer then and with a little guidance from him and of course her determined mother, she took her first baby steps in the industry. "We kind of knew Boman Irani. He was the only person my mom wanted to approach, as he was a well-known photographer at that time. Boman spoke to me and told me that if I wasn't ready to act, I shouldn't do it, because this line is complicated.
Unless you don't genuinely want to do it, you won't give it your 100 per cent. The first time we went to meet him, he figured out the fact that more than me, my mom wanted me to get into the industry. So he asked me to give him a call when I was ready to do it." Perhaps she was destined to be an actress as she changed her mind and complied with her mother's wishes. "When I was ready, I called him. He shot my first folio."
For almost four years, Sanaya was seen doing commercials and music videos. She recollects, "I never thought I would act on television, yet I knew I would do movies if somebody offered me anything."
After getting fed up of doing commercials, and since no one was offering her a good film, she felt it was time to do something different. That was when she decided to venture into television. "I always got many calls for shows, but I would keep telling people I am not interested in television. Then finally I was like maybe I should do it. So I went to give an audition." And that was how it all really began.
If you have seen the film Fanaa, you will notice Sanaya in a blink and miss it role. She played one of Kajol's many friends. For someone who wanted to debut in Bollywood as a lead, I ask her why would she take up an insignificant cameo?
Sanaya explains earnestly, "Yash Raj Films called me and told me that there is this small role in the film. The first time they called, I refused it, because earlier also I had got calls for films but they were for small or character roles. I didn't want to do that. So I clearly told them I wasn't interested. But again somebody happened to call from their office. She told me that Aamir and Kajol were there in the film. That was the time I really wanted to do it. They are my favourite actors. Where else would I get to act with them?"
The role may have been miniscule, but it was an experience of a lifetime. "It was amazing. Firstly it was Yash Raj. They kept us really well. Of course, when the film released, I was obviously not happy to see how small my role was. I had shot way more than how much was shown on screen. But that's editing. Nobody would be happy.
But I don't regret it, because I had such a good time. Kunal (Kohli), Aamir, Kajol; everyone was so nice. It was so much fun on the sets. I didn't feel intimidated at all. Also there were Shruti (Seth) and Gautami (Kapoor), who were really sweet." Sanaya still nurtures hopes of acting in films. "It's great if I get a movie, nothing like it. But it should be a really great film. I don't want to be a one-film wonder."
She brightens up as she speaks about her current show, one which is close to her heart. "Mile Jab Hum Tum happened at a very right time in my life. Such things never happened to me. But MJHT did. I was just leaving Left Right Left, when I got a call for it. I went for the audition thinking I am not going to get it because it was a completely Indian role.
People in the past had bashed me saying I didn't look Indian. When I came to know it was a campus role, I was really excited as I always wanted to do youth shows. But when I learned that the leads of the show were two girls coming from a small town, I was like, 'Oh my God, now I am stuck over here. And I am not going to get the role.'" As luck would have it, she bagged Gunjan's role.
Her character is the typical shy Indian girl, which is so unlike her real self. "I have never done a role like Gunjan. But now after six months, I am used to her. If people tell me to act otherwise, I don't think I can!" The girl, whom people thought couldn't carry off the Indian look and who couldn't even speak Hindi, is seen today mouthing long monologues. How did she make it happen? "The amount of footage I got in my other serials was not as much as this. I am used to saying long dialogues in Hindi now," she reasons.
Ironically, it wasn't this role that she was eyeing. She wanted to play the role played by Rati Pandey, her co-actor. "I wanted to do Nupur's role. I feel her character is so open and free; I love doing such roles. There is so much more to her. She can laugh and cry loudly unlike Gunjan."
Playing a parallel lead alongside another actress on a youth show, most of us would think that the sets of MJHT must be witness to a lot of catfights and bitching. "Catfights? A lot! Rati and I are always at each others throats." She laughs aloud and then clarifies. "Actually nothing like that. Both of us are Virgos and are quite similar that way. There is nothing like I am the lead or she is the lead, we both are!"
She pauses for a bit and then continues, "At least there is no insecurity from my side. And I don't think there is any from Rati's side. She is a fabulous actress, so she doesn't need to be insecure." The duo shares a comradeship and there is no rivalry between them. So the atmosphere on the sets is chilled out.
"We have way too much fun and I think that's the great part of being on a youth show. Touch wood. In this industry, not every one you meet thinks like you or gets along with you. You don't always meet people you can gel with. Thankfully this hasn't been the case on all my shows."
This year, Sanaya won the ITA award for the Fresh Female Face on television. Incidentally, Rati also happened to be one of the nominees for the same award. "Once again, I was shocked, as I said before, for me nothing ever happens at the right place, right time. I didn't think I would win; I actually thought Rati would win because she was also nominated. I kept telling her you are going to win. I was absolutely shocked."
But she doesn't think her winning the award would make her co-stars jealous of her and answers rather diplomatically, "Honestly, I think for Rati, more than being just a fresh face, acting matters. For any actor, even for me, an 'actor' award would mean much more. I don't think she really cares. If she would have won this award, I would not even be point one per cent sad."
We move on and I ask her if she is tired of playing the same character day in and day out and why she doesn't try her hand at doing a daily saga or perhaps a reality show. She replies, "I don't know how I will ever do a saas bahu show. I am sure I will do it at some point in my career. I can I am sure, but I don't see it happening at this point in my life. The last few days I have only been shooting crying scenes and I just cannot handle it. In saas-bahu shows you have to keep crying! As far as reality shows are concerned, the only thing I can do is dance. Actually, I don't even know whether I can do that.
I just know I like dancing, so I am guessing I can do it. But I have a really bad memory, so chances are I am not going to remember my steps on stage. I am so sure that if I ever do a dance-based reality show, I will definitely goof up on at least two of my dance performances," she says the last line with sincerity and such a straight face, that it leaves me in splits.
Encouraged by my giggles, she further humours me when I ask her if she would like to act in films again. "Is someone planning to give them to me? Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, all the happening filmmakers, if you all are ready to give me a chance, I shall be more than happy to accept it." In a more somber tone she continues, "Obviously, who doesn't want to do films?
A film for any actor is better than a serial, because you get to play so many characters. You grow as an actor. It is not monotonous and they shoot very differently. The conditions we TV actors shoot under, there is no time, and the episode has to go on air. Even if you haven't given your best performance, you just have to go ahead.
We shoot for twelve hours, by the end of which we are absolutely exhausted, so we are not giving our 100 per cent. In films, you get the opportunity to give your best."
Forget films, right now she has her kitty full and is not even thinking of taking up another project. "I cannot think of doing any other show. I will do MJHT as long as I am happy doing it. The day the show starts making me sad or unhappy or tortures me, I will give it up."
By now you must have come to the conclusion that Sanaya is confident, witty and pretty, so when I come to know that she is single, at first I refuse to believe her. But she simply smiles and says, "No, I am not dating anyone but I would not like to discuss my personal life. I don't like to mix it with my professional life. These questions are so irrelevant; I don't know why people ask. How much of a difference is it going to make to other people's lives? My answer is no, and I don't know what else to say."
For now, she has no future plans. "I don't know anything that is going to happen in my life as I don't plan. I will do things that will make me happy. If tomorrow, I realize acting is not making me happy, I will just leave everything and start doing something that will make me happy. Touchwood, I have never been is such a position in my life, where I have to think about working for a living. People aren't this lucky in life. I don't see anything changing at least for the next five years."
Then again she shifts back to her notorious self, "Maybe five years down the line, YRF will offer me a film. Their movies may be flopping but they are an amazing production house to work with. Everyone has downfalls in life, that doesn't mean you give up on them. Maybe Karan Johar will. He will be a wise man if he considers me. That's all I have to say." Well, with such self-confidence, how can one even doubt that this girl won't go a long way!
* BY PURVAJA SAWANT
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