Today, the pressure to create an impact keeps actors on their toes: Manushi Chhillar
26/06/2022
Manushi Chhillar made a promising debut with Samrat Prithviraj earlier this month. Winner of the coveted Miss World title in 2017, the actress has already shot her second film with Vicky Kaushal, which is a modern-day, light-hearted drama. While her Bollywood debut was delayed due to the pandemic, Manushi is glad that she took her first big step and is all set to explore the many possibilities that are in store for her. “There is some amount of relief attached to the fact that I have finally entered the industry. I am happy with the response from the people I know and also from those who don’t know me well. The audience has received my work very well,” she says.
The actress says that the most important thing for a young artiste is acceptance from the audience, and that comes with the projects they feature in. She says, “I want to do good films and do better work with each project. I want to grow as an actor and work with directors, who have different styles of storytelling. That will help me improve my skills. The industry has changed a great deal, and today, there’s work for everyone. This is the age of the actor. If someone wants to grow, they have to be a good artiste. And I want to work towards that. I love doing what I do, and I sincerely hope to get more opportunities to explore different kinds of stories. I hope that people accept the work I do because that is the key to getting more opportunities.”
Talking about the genres that she’s attracted to, Manushi shares, “The kind of genres we enjoy has a lot to do with the phase in which our life is. When I was younger, I loved watching thrillers. Silence of the Lambs is one of my all-time favourites. In recent times, I also enjoyed Gone Girl. After the tough phase of the pandemic, I want to watch something light-hearted and funny - a film with a heart. As an artiste, however, I think I’m at a stage where I’m keen to explore as many genres as possible. I am very new to the scene, and I am yet to understand what I like to do. I cannot talk about it, but I enjoyed the film I worked on with Vicky Kaushal. It was a different experience from working on Samrat Prithviraj, which was an equally special project for me. I enjoyed doing both of them. I realise that it’s probably not the genre of the story but the process and the challenge of playing different roles that I’m excited about. I’d love to greedily ask for a pure love story, an iconic one. I’d love to do a masala action film, too. I want to explore as much ground and try as many new things as possible.”
The last couple of years have seen a number of promising newcomers stepping onto the scene as OTT platforms have opened up a larger playing field, but that also escalates the competition. Bring this up and Manushi says, “I don’t think I ever considered what others are doing. I feel there’s so much work and room for everyone. From where I see it, I need to compete with myself if I have to get better at what I’m doing. That time when there was only one person at the top is over. There’s so much consumption, so much variety and such different audience bases between cinemas and OTT platforms. Every piece created for these spaces comes with its own kind of requirements. So, I don’t see anyone as competition. If I keep improving myself and keep impressing the audience with something new every time, I’d believe I’m winning at this game.”
When prodded further about the shorter window to make an impact, Manushi adds, “Honestly, I have not observed the industry so much to know what happened before, but I feel that people have a short-term memory. I don’t know if it has always been so, but people tend to forget artistes and move on very soon. So, there is a lot more pressure to create an impact and that keeps actors on their toes. But that’s inherently the nature of the work we’re doing. We have to work towards creating an impact from the word go. In a dynamic environment like this, it’s not easy to get noticed when there are so many people out there. But I feel that this industry has a lot to offer, and everyone doesn’t have the same end goal. Everyone defines success and their space differently. So, there is competition and there may even be people with the same end goals as you, but today, there is also a lot of scope to explore the industry as we see fit.”
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