A lot of people would tell me to have a realistic dream when I decided to become an actor:Chahat Vig

25/06/2023

Sometimes we don't choose the moment, it chooses us. And that happened with Chahat Vig. She never thought of becoming an actor (though subconsciously it was there) while she was training as a musician from the age of 3. She made her acting debut with Gumraah starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Mrunal Thakur. And now she is currently seen in Rafuchakkar which features Maniesh Paul, Sushant Singh, Priya Bapat and Aksha Pardasany among others.
In an exclusive conversation, Chahat spoke candidly about her acting journey, dealing with rejections, her biggest support system and her loving life partner.
Tell me about your role in Rafuchakkar and how you prepared for it.
I play this character called Preeti Gogia. And out of the three cons that happen in the story, one of the cons happens with Preeti and her family. Preeti is very bubbly, hopeless, romantic, and very meticulous about her wedding preparations. Also she knows what she wants.
And so when Maniesh Paul's character comes and meets them as Manjeet Walia, she puts her foot down and she's like, this is who I want for my wedding. I want him to manage and sort of organise my wedding. And that's where the story escalates.
And Manjeet Walia creating that chaos is something that is chaotic, fun and a little drama that everyone should witness.
How closely do you relate to Preeti Gogia in real life?
I relate to Preeti in a lot of ways, but not completely. Like her essence and my essence are not the same. Yes, we're both Punjabi women. Chahat and Preeti both have been raised in Punjab, but with very different values and different scales of emotions. How I feel anger or feeling upset is very different to how Preeti feels it. And I think for me the challenge was to not stereotype her as well. Because when you think of Punjabi characters, there's this grandeur and loudness that comes into your mind. Someone raised in Punjab and coming from Punjab, they must be like that. With Preeti, my entire focus was on not stereotyping her. She's not loud. That's the thing that is similar in both of us. She's like an everyday woman that you would see in Punjab walking on the streets of Amritsar, Chandigarh, Pathankot, where I've been raised. It was easier to navigate the path which was familiar, of course, because you can bring in your own essence. And so her being Punjabi really helped as well.
How was your experience working on this project and with your co-stars?
My experience on the project was extremely kind and I got to learn a lot of things. This is only like the start of my career. And to have been given the opportunity to work with such talented people, such a driven director, it has been a blessing. Because when I entered the industry, my first project was released in April and now the second one. So for the last one year, I was shooting the projects back to back. They were all doing their own bit and making sure everybody collectively brings out the best. And even with the co-stars, we had so much space to improvise and explore our craft. What else an actor can ask for, right?
Most of my scenes were with Maniesh and Bhawsheel Singh Sahni, who was acting as my to-be-husband in the show. With Maniesh, it was so much fun because he just adds that humour and he just lightens up the set. He would just come in with a very light-hearted energy, which just makes you like, 'Okay, fine, we're going to have fun.' And while having fun, we're going to give our best in the scene. He's also North Indian, just exploring the lingo of Punjab, and just discussing cultures has also been very pleasant.
How did your journey start as an actor?
So I was a student in Whistling Woods International, and I was training to be a music producer and composer. I actually sing. So acting wasn't even in my mind at that moment. Subconsciously, yes, there have been on and off times when I've dreamt about it, but I never acknowledged it. I have been training as a musician since the age of three. So I had given so much time to that. I trained as a Hindustani classical vocalist. Then I explored the Western classical music. I played the piano, learned the ukulele. And then eventually in college, I was sitting down on the console and learning how to produce music.
It was only after the second year that I realised that my true calling is acting only because several friends of mine cast me in their diploma short films, music videos and stuff. And I used to enjoy doing that a lot. A lot of my mentors made sure that they called me to their office and told me that you are a fantastic musician, but you should also explore acting because they saw something in me. They saw that I'm comfortable with it and I should train on it. That thing stayed with me when several of my mentors said that. And the year 2021 is when I started auditioning. The world was just opening up after Covid. And that's when I was like, it's time that I start auditioning and see where I can go.
And how did it go?
I realised that the art of auditioning is a separate art. You learn so much when you're auditioning. When you're on set or when you sign a project, we have a script in hand. They explain to you where your character is. You have the director there, the vision to tell you what the writer means, how it will be portrayed. But when you have an audition, you get a call from the casting coordinators, the casting head, and they tell you, this character is a scene and you send us in 8 hours, before 8 pm. And sometimes they have like that time, sometimes they give you two days also.
There is sometimes a brief that this is what the character does and sometimes nothing at all. So that's when you have to put in your imagination, you have to practice your craft every day. And then you have to also take care of the technicalities because now we have entered the times of self-test.

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