In this episode of Table for Two, we sit down with the multi-talented Saiyami Kher—an actor, athlete, and trailblazer who is redefining what it means to push boundaries, both on-screen and off it.
Known for her impactful performances in Choked, Ghoomer, and Special OPS, Saiyami opens up about the experiences and values that have shaped her journey.
From becoming the first Indian actor to complete two Ironman 70.3 triathlons within a year—a feat of endurance and resilience—to her honest take on the casting couch in the film industry, this conversation is equal parts inspiring and unfiltered.
She talks about the mentors who have guided her, including Anurag Kashyap, and her deep respect for Abhishek Bachchan, whom she describes as humble, grounded, and quietly confident. Saiyami also shares how she chooses roles that leave a positive impact on society, proving that for her, storytelling goes hand in hand with responsibility.
This episode is a mix of raw honesty, personal triumphs, and hard-hitting truths—whether it’s about navigating Bollywood, challenging stereotypes, or pushing the limits of human endurance.
Stay tuned till the end and don’t miss her refreshing perspective on life, art, and strength—both mental and physical.
Credits:
Host: Shizaa Arshad Khan
Direction & Production: Gouri Prabhakar
Cinematography: PK Photography & Team
HMU: Ankita Ingale
Editors: George C Alex
Editorial Head: Sunita Iyer
Watch now & join the conversation. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to Asianet News for more exclusive sit-downs with India’s most influential voices.
#TableForTwo #SaiyamiKher #Ironman703 #CastingCouch #AnuragKashyap #AbhishekBachchan #IndianCinema #EnduranceAthlete #AsianetNews #PositiveRoles
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Known for her impactful performances in Choked, Ghoomer, and Special OPS, Saiyami opens up about the experiences and values that have shaped her journey.
From becoming the first Indian actor to complete two Ironman 70.3 triathlons within a year—a feat of endurance and resilience—to her honest take on the casting couch in the film industry, this conversation is equal parts inspiring and unfiltered.
She talks about the mentors who have guided her, including Anurag Kashyap, and her deep respect for Abhishek Bachchan, whom she describes as humble, grounded, and quietly confident. Saiyami also shares how she chooses roles that leave a positive impact on society, proving that for her, storytelling goes hand in hand with responsibility.
This episode is a mix of raw honesty, personal triumphs, and hard-hitting truths—whether it’s about navigating Bollywood, challenging stereotypes, or pushing the limits of human endurance.
Stay tuned till the end and don’t miss her refreshing perspective on life, art, and strength—both mental and physical.
Credits:
Host: Shizaa Arshad Khan
Direction & Production: Gouri Prabhakar
Cinematography: PK Photography & Team
HMU: Ankita Ingale
Editors: George C Alex
Editorial Head: Sunita Iyer
Watch now & join the conversation. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to Asianet News for more exclusive sit-downs with India’s most influential voices.
#TableForTwo #SaiyamiKher #Ironman703 #CastingCouch #AnuragKashyap #AbhishekBachchan #IndianCinema #EnduranceAthlete #AsianetNews #PositiveRoles
🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE
For More Updates:
English: https://newsable.asianetnews.com/
Hindi: https://hindi.asianetnews.com/
Malayalam: https://www.asianetnews.com/
Kannada: https://kannada.asianetnews.com/
Tamil: https://tamil.asianetnews.com/
Telugu: https://telugu.asianetnews.com/
Bengali: https://bangla.asianetnews.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianetNewsa...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AsianetNewsEN
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ann.newsable/
➡ If you like our video, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel to get the daily dosage of news, entertainment, sports and more.
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NewsTranscript
00:00what are the challenges that you face all the stories you hear of casting couch it is a reality
00:05of the industry have you ever encountered it no matter how many how much you try to like change
00:11it is about sort of lips and glamour i've been told my lips are thin i should get lip fillers
00:17lots of people have told me that me i don't want to i'm very happy with the way i look
00:21you sort of came in support of abhishek matthew what kind of camera did you share with him he's
00:26somebody who i'm still auditioning for films the auditioning culture especially abroad it's very
00:34normal you did the iron man 70.3 twice how did you manage to do that you know actually what kept me
00:43going in the race was we were about to start the swim and it was really cold and we were complaining
00:48to each other and someone kind of nudged me from the behind and there was a visually challenged
00:53person behind me doing the race that person was my inspiration through the race sport has really
00:58made me a very solid actor what is the one genre that you've not tapped into yet but you're still
01:04very excited to do it so i'd love to be a part of a romantic comedy i want to be on a film set every
01:10single day of my life it's my happy space so i want to do roles which impact people in a positive way in
01:15their life so saimi welcome to table for tuba asianet i'm personally very excited to have you on board
01:24why one reason the first achievement recently thank you so much completed the iron man 70.3
01:34twice within the first within the one year and you're the first actress to do that yeah so your grit
01:40really inspires me and people who love fitness and i'm sure like there are many young girls like me
01:45who are trying to navigate through you know fitness and balancing their life you know like professionally
01:51and um otherwise and you've been an inspiration to all of us very kind of you thank you thank you very
01:57very much yeah because you've navigated like let's say for the lyrical world of mirzaya then to like you
02:03know um special ops 2 that's just released and in the midst of all of this you completed the triathlon
02:10as well so how was that like like what was it preparing for the triathlon while you were shooting
02:16i think it was shooting in last week during that time no i was shooting in hyderabad i was shooting
02:20for a film called jaat with sunny they all yeah that recently came out yeah released in april yes so i was
02:27shooting for a year for that film it wasn't meant to be that long but it just went on going on going on
02:32and on so the iron man 70.3 or the half iron man is people are not very aware of what it is it's two
02:40kilometers it's 1.9 kilometers of swimming 90 kilometers cycling and then 21 kilometers running
02:45you rode one after the other um so i started running long i used to play a lot of sport when i was younger
02:51i started running long distance uh after my debut film didn't do very well uh after mirzia i took to
02:58endurance sport because it used to just calm my head i ran my first ever race was a full marathon
03:04so i did the 42k um so again just to explain to people you know now i'm so happy to see people
03:10running and taking to running but lots of times like i understand my runners would get upset because
03:17media doesn't know the iron man it's also new to them so even when you when you run a marathon
03:23marathon means 42.2 kilometers otherwise anything under that is not a marathon it's there's 42.2 then
03:29there's a half marathon and after that it's just you're out for a run 10k 5k 3k but what happens
03:36is people who do 5k 7k say we went for a marathon it's very nice to see them running but it's just you
03:43need to give doing a marathon is a very big deal so you should understand the terminology so the same
03:49thing with the half iron man or iron man 70.3 i've got friends who've done the full iron man which is
03:55what i aspire to do when i get a little bit more time uh it's it's double the distance that i did so
04:01it's 3.8 kilometers swim 180 kilometers cycle and then 42 kilometers running wow so someday when i can
04:09manage to do both with work it's it gets a little tough but that's my ultimate goal wow but you did it
04:17within a year twice one in berlin and the weeks one in sweden right and you're the first indian
04:22actress she's the first indian actress i mean to say that out loud and clear to do it within a year
04:28and you broke your own record i think you finished up 32 minutes earlier this time while you were doing
04:33it in sweden with much tougher weather conditions and you know steeper slopes i think so how was that
04:41like like how did you manage to do that was it resilience was there any points where you felt
04:47like no i should just give up no actually what kept me going in the race was for two three days
04:54before the race there was a thunderstorm and i had two friends of mine doing it with me i kept
04:58complaining to them saying it's so cold and it's so windy the water's so choppy it's so hilly and we
05:04just kept complaining the morning of the race i was standing with my two friends we're about to start the
05:09swim and it was really cold and we were complaining to each other and someone kind of nudged me from
05:14the behind and there was a visually challenged person behind me doing the race so i just zipped my
05:21mouth and said that you know somebody like him can do it and do it with such a smile on his face
05:26and he did yes he did he did so they do they have an assisted run where their uh someone is their
05:33hands are i mean together when they run when they bike they also attach to someone and when they cycle
05:38is a tandem cycle so you have to do everything so then your hands are locked in with another person
05:46so like a volunteer who does the whole race but both the people have to do the whole race which is a
05:51very big deal so i just realized that that person was my inspiration through the race
05:57and it was a much tougher race than boleyn boleyn i chose was completely flat
06:01the elevation on the cycle was like 110 meters this was 820 so it's eight times yeah yeah but i was just
06:09really happy that it all went very smoothly and was absolutely stunning yeah okay now talking about
06:16your body of work you've uh sort of like um i would say if i were to like describe you as an actor i would
06:24say you're a silent storm oh thank you so kind of you yeah because um if i look at your body of work
06:31critically yes you know done very well some of them commercially also they've been good
06:37possesses like i saw boomer recently and i felt very inspired after that as well uh also because like
06:44i have certain sort of interest in sports and like you know working out and everything
06:48but um um like how has it been navigating the acting journey like if you look back at your first
06:58time when you were facing the camera professionally what were you thinking at that point did you
07:04think of that point that this is going to be my life later so i have been in to sport ever since
07:10i was a child so my whole upbringing my whole discipline is comes from the sporting background
07:17and why i'm bringing sport back again into the acting question is because sport has really made
07:22me a very solid actor and a and a more rounded human being in general so when you say i'm not a
07:31hundred meter sprinter i'm a endurance marathon runner and that's the same with my films i don't want
07:37to just be there for the one and two films and then disappear so i want to do roles which impact people
07:44in a positive way in their lives and want to do work which is meaningful um of course entertainment
07:49being the most important thing but along with that also wanting to positively change people's lives so
07:56be it ghuma i wrote a film called atm metro which talks about mental health so they're just films which
08:02i have touched people's hearts and that makes a big difference the journey is not easy at all just like
08:09running a marathon is not easy at all but i didn't sign up for a easy journey because if i if it's
08:15easy it's not fun i feel yeah um so when i signed up i very well very well knew it's it's going to be
08:22a rocky road and it's definitely been a very rocky road because that's how the industry is the ups and
08:28downs and you know on one friday suddenly you know there are people who become superstars overnight it's
08:34some people who take a longer time the journey is much longer so it depends what your journey is but
08:41the most important reason again why i go back to endurance sport is you need to know your why why
08:48are you doing this why am i doing an iron man why am i acting so if you know why you're doing this
08:55then the times when you're low and out you can always go back and ask yourself why are you doing this
09:00and if your answer you get an honest answer for yourself it keeps you going so for me i do
09:08endurance sport to keep me mentally stable to keep me in a better space to keep to make me feel better
09:13about myself the reason i act of course i like money but money fame glamour is not the
09:21stuff that i'm looking for i genuinely love being in front of a camera i genuinely love acting i genuinely
09:27like playing different characters leading those lives for those two three months that's something
09:33i really really enjoy i love being on a film set even if it's a small role and i'm not the lead actor
09:40but i'm just part of a film set where i meet 200 new people that set becomes your family for those
09:46two three months and then i i i've made friends for life in this industry as well uh who i think have
09:53made me a better person so for me who would you call him who's a strengthening industry funnily all
09:58my directors starting from rakesh sir i'm actually rakesh umrakash mehra who was my debut director i'm
10:04very close to him i'm very close to balki sir who is like yes r balki who's also a big cricket fan so
10:11we try i've traveled and watched a few cricket games with him much after boomer and anurag kashap is my go
10:18to person because i did a film called choked with anurag so anurag sir is someone i constantly go to
10:23for help and advice um roshan matthew is an actor who's a malayalam actor who did choked with me is
10:30a very very dear friend or pavel guladhi just co-stars that i've worked with um i i mean i just
10:38they're all really nice people and i think that's what is important you know we could have come back to
10:44your body of work but talking about co-stars you once there was a big sort of like debate going
10:50around you know like people coming from film backgrounds and everything and you sort of came
10:55in support of abhishek kachin and stuff like you know he's the most uh uh grounded person that you've
11:02met and he is actually very intelligent if you ask me personally i think he's a very underrated actor
11:07because he gets a lot of criticism for the name and the legacy that he carries but he's done brilliant
11:13with gomar for example yes or even um you know like yuva is a film i really like his yeah what kind
11:22of camaraderie do you share with him he's someone who will like call him coach saab even today two
11:27years after release he's somebody who uh i'm extremely fond of because before gomar we did a
11:33show called breathe which we did two seasons so we spent three four years together on breathe
11:38and i've said this time and again he's somebody who is a very very wise and he is extremely secure
11:47in his skin and we find that that quality is very rare in actors and i'm not just saying industry
11:52non-industry famous not famous whatever just actors are very insecure by nature uh you're constantly
11:59being judged you're constantly being judged the way you look the way you talk the way your films are
12:03doing not doing well so you're just constantly being judged so you tend to become insecure but ab
12:10coach saab is the most secure person i've met in the industry and i think that just speaks volumes about
12:17how he's been brought up how he's so wonderful with everyone he interacts with he makes them feel very
12:22special and uh i i'm very very fond of him and i i hope i get to work with him more and more yeah i i hope
12:30you get to work yes more and more actors in general we see yes you on screen more and more often uh but
12:37you know like you also come from surface to film family you know um you can we are mostly so so when
12:45you've grown up in that sort of environment i'll have to interrupt you there i haven't grown up in that
12:51environment at all okay because my parents moved to nasik to bring up my sister and me because they didn't
12:57want to bring us up uh in mumbai they didn't want to bring us up within anything to do with films
13:03because my father uh very strongly believes that there's much more to life than films so actually
13:09we were not allowed to watch films till i was 14 years old like i'd watched toy story one toy story
13:14two yeah and like dumbo and like some animated films cartoons we are not allowed to watch films okay but
13:21then like you did enter yes eventually right so um was there any sort of pressure in your mind
13:29internally that oh i have a legacy to carry on or was it like no i'm going to do it on my own and this
13:36is going to be my journey because you have created a specific space for yourself in this industry a
13:41specific niche right so how did you know there was no pressure whatsoever no the pressure i mean
13:49my grandmom was an actress whose work i saw much later in life so i've not seen it growing up i saw
13:55it much later in life and i really admire her work because it came from an era which is very different
14:00and the quality of films was very pure i feel at that that point and those films really resonate with me
14:07um so i loved watching her but there was never been any pressure because i'm doing this because i like
14:13doing it okay i'm doing this on my own merit i'm doing like standing in the career started standing
14:19outside aramnagar in queues like aramnagar pathwan yeah yeah like even yesterday i was in aramnagar for
14:26an audition so things don't change too much yeah i was there for a film audition yes i'm still
14:33auditioning for films uh but i should be auditioning for tv ads at that point which is like three auditions a
14:39day and then you just be standing in endless queues now i don't stand in queues that's pretty much the
14:45change that's happened but very much audition still for my films and i'm very happy doing that because
14:50i feel that uh the auditioning culture especially abroad it's very normal like for instance balki
14:58sir seen me in ghoomer and anurak sir can't picture me as sarita who's in a sari clad thing so so the
15:05director to understand does this person fit in my scheme of things or not so i don't have any ego
15:12hassle about auditioning it's just that it should be done with the correct intent where i feel sometimes
15:18oh there's you know there's so much politics that happens everywhere so there is all that that also
15:23happens but as long as nice people you're working with very happy auditioning um so yeah the journey
15:30started in long queues at aram nagar yeah um so there was no help from family what's so family and
15:36no clue actually besides my parents and sister so what was the upbringing like apart from not being
15:42allowed to watch tvs and growing up in nasik and you know around greenery what was it like growing up
15:48so every weekend yeah every weekend we were up trekking we used to be on different treks with my
15:53dad would take me around my parents had restaurants three restaurants so i worked in the restaurant i
15:58used to be in the kitchen and was properly making rumali rotis and making like as a kid after school
16:04i used to go there but my dad would not let us eat restaurant food so my mother had to cook for us
16:09in the restaurant so and then badminton for us i used to play professional badminton as a kid
16:15so a lot of sport and then studies in school but a lot of sport very good in studies though i managed
16:23to get good marks so i guess what is good marks according to you oh on my 10th standard i got 83
16:28or 82 and yeah yeah i was very happy i didn't get into xavier's with my marks neither did i i got a 92
16:37because the cutter was 93 and a half at my time it was actually 99 yeah it's crazy it's crazy but i got
16:44him because of sports quota oh so i did five years in xavier's thanks to the sports quota so i was an
16:51okay student i mean i'd say i got decent marks but uh you know like you spoke about insecurities and
16:58you've been very vocal about being authentic to yourself you know and no judgment here about uh
17:04whoever wants to get whatever work they want to do because obviously this industry at the end of the day no
17:08matter how many how much you try to like change it is about sort of glitz and glamour right it is about
17:14appearing on the camera and looking good in front of the camera and you know doing your best work so
17:20how have you stayed grounded through it all like what has your mindset with exactly what you're saying
17:26it's what you want so there's no judgment on either side i am somebody who just believes that
17:32everyone is unique to the way you've been made so if you've got a certain look about you if i've got
17:38curly hair i mean for obviously for a film i've straightened my hair but i've been told my lip
17:43lip satin i should get lip fillers lots of people have told me that lots of people so for me i don't
17:48want to i'm very happy with the way i look and what do you say to them like when you when you come across
17:53there were certain uh senior directors who said it so i used to say that i used to smile saying okay
17:57sir and then never meeting them like i did an ad or so when i was 16 17 years old um move on with
18:04life so you do what you you you do you you do what makes you happy uh and i'm i feel that i was
18:12seeing mohitsa mohitsuri's interview yesterday before yesterday where i haven't watched sayara i'm
18:17very happy it's doing so well but he said the reason he cast and it was because she was so fresh and
18:22she just looked authentic and looked real and as an audience i want to see that like i want to see
18:28real people you know because then that's what i connect to so i'm very happy the way you i look
18:35on screen or of course for a role i'm very happy like for choked i put on 10 kilos so i'm very happy
18:42to have physical transformations in my capacity um trying to look entirely different like the whole
18:49saree straightened hair and all of that so in my capacity to change as an actor i'll do this but
18:55nothing permanently to my face or body uh tell me one thing that i want to touch upon is that that um
19:04you definitely have haven't had the upbringing of a film like a film star like what do you call it
19:12star yes right uh but you are definitely in some way or the other connected to it okay so people do assume
19:19a lot of things about people who come from film backgrounds like i did not know that you do not
19:23have that kind of upbringing you enlightened me just right now right um so a lot of people have a lot
19:28of perceptions about people who are you know filmy families and backgrounds um what is it one thing that
19:36you think that um these star kids get misjudged for and one thing that they are like like that should be
19:46put out there more often like you know one thing that's really true about them and one thing that
19:53they really really that the audience just don't get it i mean i really have no idea because i have
20:00just had absolutely no exposure to it when i was younger like zero exposure to it when i was younger
20:06um but as an actor working in this industry um so the pros and cons of being a star i'm not asking
20:13the pros and cons but do you think that they get misjudged very quickly i mean obviously you get
20:18judged more because you're in the limelight how old was time what one year old two years old two years
20:24old so you you're in the limelight immediately and obviously there's immediate comparison to
20:31this is how your father acted this is how your mother acted are you living up to that expectation
20:36or not so it's just that immediate expectation from audiences saying that oh he's so and so son
20:43or daughter and you expect because the parent is such a big star you expect the child to be just as
20:50good or just you know start off which is a little unfair because everyone starts their journey everyone's
20:56journey is different everyone's for an actor you have to have experiences in life so if if people
21:03haven't had fulfilling experiences then your you'll take time to become a solid actor i think um having
21:11said that my favorite actors in the industry are alia bhatt and ranveer kapoor and i think they're
21:15exceptional they're exceptional and so this whole thing of insider outsider and all i think is too done to
21:22that because if you are good you're here to stay if you're not good you keep working keep working
21:28get better and try and get opportunities because if that's really something that you want to do then
21:33you have to keep working at it keep working at it and get better because it's not that people don't
21:38get better it's about getting better uh you should just be lucky to get opportunities um you know what
21:45what really really really touched me today was when you said that you still go to audition and you're
21:51still very much in the favor of you know auditioning i remember krianka chopra saying the same thing
21:56that you know when she had gone to um hollywood yes hollywood um she had to audition for her first
22:02roman right and um she still does it and she's very much happy doing it despite having such a tremendous
22:10i hope i follow her career path if our uh i mean no it's it's i really really uh think she's so
22:17good as an actor when again i miss seeing her here because it's just that you feel like okay we've lost
22:25one of the best actors yes yes she's doing a film now but like if you think about that scene in
22:30bajeera mastani you think about barfi she was so good like she's just so good yeah but you know um
22:39there must have been days where you must have not been uh you know feeling okay okay fine what am i
22:46doing here or you know oh it's every day every morning how do you like sort of like lift your
22:53spirit i'll go and run so that's how i've kind of always put myself it's helped me in a big way
23:02because every see it's this it's a very funny place to be because when you do films you give
23:09your whole heart and soul and blood and toil and then one person goes on a friday he's had a
23:16fight with his girlfriend or boyfriend he's not in a good mood and you walk out
23:20and then you tweet saying bakwas picture and you finish the film of some of people who made an
23:24effort for one year to do whatever for that film or covid hits and theaters shut down you just don't
23:30know what can happen but every time you do a film you want it to obviously do very well and reach as
23:36many people as it can so it can be extremely heartbreaking when things don't work or sometimes
23:42when you audition for something you really want to do it and doesn't work out it's going to happen
23:46it's a part and parcel of the job as a journalist you really want someone's interview but it's not
23:52happening you've come so close and suddenly they cancel it last minute it's painful right at in every
23:58in every career path that happens but it's about how you kind of say okay it's happened so now what
24:04and move on with it take your time to sulk but don't make it a habit and your personality that you're
24:11only sulking all the time so for me i something doesn't work out i go for a really long run
24:17and it just keep me gets me into a very good headspace when i go and do that okay and then i
24:22feel like all right it's okay this is what i've signed up for now stop being a crybaby and move on
24:28with it you're a very strong woman i'm meeting you for the first time thank you i don't know i didn't
24:33expect because normally when i meet people i have a certain set of expectations okay fine this is how
24:39it's gonna go but now it's actually that she's fell apart it's very sweet and it's actually got me
24:45intrigued to ask you more questions yes as a woman in this industry you know um who's had her fair share
24:52of limelight and her fair share of setbacks as well like you said mirziya didn't do well and after that
24:58you know you took up the um you took up running and everything took your head and everything now as
25:04a woman of um a lot of character and a lot of patience in this industry specifically what are the
25:11challenges that you face and what are the things that you wish you could change about the industry
25:17there are certain very few people who have unfortunately come across who all the stories
25:23you hear of casting couch and these stories of people trying to act smart all that is there
25:30it's very much there so it is a reality of the industry have you ever encountered something i have
25:36twice and once finally a woman actually was asking me her words were that you should compromise the
25:43director when i was very young i was 19 years old uh so i said that ma'am you know i don't know it's
25:48not so important to me it's okay like so it's not an old story so this is a reality so you can't you
25:56can't go into this thing of oh and so unfair it is a reality i hope that changes it's changed in a
26:02big way i feel in this the seven eight years that i have been around it's changed in a big way um
26:09it's a tough place it's a very tough place but again you know what isn't like it's it's tough
26:15everywhere out there it's a tough world and you have to toughen up and learn to deal with things
26:20and you have to put your foot down and say that this doesn't work for me and you have to be vocal
26:24about it and you have to stand by what your belief system is and you have to trust yourself even if it's
26:30a very big person very big casting director and say i'll finish your career okay finish it you know have
26:36that courage to stand by conviction and do that so i think you should just be true to who you are you
26:42should be you should be uh somebody who stands by what you believe because if you're an honest actor
26:48you keep working yourself some door will open now special ops 2 has come out uh it's come out after a
26:56long long long wait because the first season was really happening i remember i remember watching it
27:03because Hrithik Roshan tweeted about it oh really yeah he did and i thought it was his production
27:08house or something and i thought maybe he just said it because you know and then he wrote that it's not
27:12his uh production however he's not affiliated to the film in any way uh sorry the series in any way
27:18and i was just like in awe and i was like oh my god the season two is gonna come and you know how
27:24normally year after year we get seasons but this has come after what five years now so how is it
27:29collaborating again with kkk maninsa or neeraj mandy again like so i signed this seven years ago the
27:37show so when you sign you sign for two seasons that's how it is you don't know where your character is
27:42going to go what's really going to happen in seconds if there's going to be a second season because
27:45sometimes that's how it is i wanted to work wanted to work because i was a big fan of a
27:53wednesday neeraj sir's film i watched it when i was in school and i think it's yeah really really
27:59touched me and it was so here's this whole genre of espionage thrillers is something that neeraj sir
28:05does really well and um i again of course go to anurag sir with everything that comes to me and he
28:11said hundred percent do it because he's a really nice guy who love working with him he's no nonsense
28:15straightforward non-filming he's been a good mentor to you he's been a good mentor to you would you say
28:19that with neeraj sir and my equation is only oh anurag kashram's my biggest mentor in the industry
28:25i go to him whenever there's anything that comes my way and balki sir and rakesh sir so the three
28:30people whose opinions really matter to me and they're very honest with me so i love going going to
28:35them they've been around for so long so anurag sir said that hundred percent do it because neeraj is a
28:40fantastic guy great maker he knows and this genre is completely up his alley so when we did the first
28:46season it was just a bunch of really nice people which is what i was talking about earlier i like
28:51working with nice people um karan's in the project as well kk sir and we didn't have any interaction
28:58because he's telling us everything on the phone and we're in beautiful locations um so unfortunately
29:04then there was covid so there was this big gap then they shot 1.5 especially of 1.5 it was kk sir's
29:10backstory uh so just going back to this world was nice because it's a world with people who are
29:16really like it's a show that did really well so i was very happy to be associated with the world
29:21working with neeraj sir again is always so much fun i just hope that i get to uh share the screen with
29:28kk sir because i i think he's a phenomenal actor and learn a lot from him if if i ever work with him
29:34and i'd love to do much more than uh what was written forward to now like uh what is it that
29:41see you've done realism kind of films you've done thrillers espionage like you said um you know sports
29:47films so what is the one uh genre that you've not tapped into it into yet but you're still very excited
29:54to do it i want to be on a film set every single day of my life it's my happy space so whatever the
29:59genre is i'm happy as long as i love watching romantic comedies so i'd love to be a part of a
30:06romantic comedy and i'm just really happy that this romantic film has worked because now at least that
30:13you know big heavy action films with lots of blood and violence will be balanced out with a little bit
30:19of romance i really like watching it as an audience so i'd love to be a part of a nice sweet romantic
30:24film yeah definitely i'm starting something in august which unfortunately hasn't been announced yet
30:31but uh that's more in a thriller space and then i'm going to do a more serious like not more very
30:37serious film in december which will also get announced whenever so hopefully i'd love to do
30:42a romantic film somewhere there and comedy because i i feel that i'm i don't know if i'll be good at
30:47it so i want to challenge myself to do it and uh is there any director now on your wish list the list just
30:54keeps on increasing i've been extremely fortunate because there were people in the top 10 list which
31:01when i just started acting rakesh omrakash mehra after rangde basanti i that film changed my life
31:09yeah but for me rangde basanti was in school again and it made a big impact on my life
31:14um then there was anura kashup who who isn't the fan of anura kashup then there was our balki because i
31:20loved pa i really like chinikam and he's somebody who i thought was i didn't know him at all found
31:26him very intelligent and sharp uh there was neeraj panday whose venus day i really really liked so
31:32there were in the list of 10 these people i've already worked with raj and dk i did a short film
31:38with so i'm i really really like their work i'd love to work with them in a proper full-pleasure not a
31:44short film in a long format show uh everyone has sanjalila bansali on their list everyone has
31:50zoe akar indiazali so these are all those tick marks which obviously any actor wants to have in their in
31:57their list of people but i also want to really work with people like abhinah sharon i really like his
32:03work he's uh one of the directors of pathalok he did a film called three of us i really like abhinah
32:08sharun's work i really like vasan's work um he the smaller films he makes again with quirk anduraksa
32:16school so i really like neeraj ghewan's work so the list of people is really long yeah yeah okay and
32:23any particular actor or female actor that you feel is a very underrated and still haven't gotten the kind
32:32of like limelight that they deserve i feel i mean i don't know what limelight i mean i i i mean the
32:40kind of work that they should be getting according to their potential i i really really love watching
32:44sanya malotra she's somebody who i really like watching on screen she's like eyes sparkle i speak
32:52so much um i'm some i i feel that the lotama shom who's somebody who's obviously been doing a lot of
32:58work but just her work is so good i'd like to see much more of her on screen there are so many actors
33:04when you realize that oh my god she was so good she was so good we want to see more of them uh but
33:10i feel sanya tilotama sreya danvantre from scam again very good so just a long list of uh people but
33:19we still get so yeah okay and uh apart from films and apart from like you know the camera i know how
33:26much you love being in front of the camera and apart from you know like uh doing the iron man uh
33:33what else do you like to do like um what else is there to you like i mean i love traveling it's
33:41something which keep like again that's so the iron man is lots of lots of hard work to get to go for a
33:48nice holiday because the race is one day is eight eight months of lots of hard work uh but then i
33:55choose places that i haven't been to i've never been to sweden in my life and then i love watching
34:00live sport i'm a big sport geek so you know the wimbledon is something i went for three four years
34:05before it was fashionable to go to wimbledon now it's become the red carpet of course at wimbledon this
34:10year that we've seen so i went in 16 17 18 no 17 18 19 for three years i used to save up my money
34:17and blow it up on watching live sport um so it's completely changed this year but i love watching
34:25cricket so i was at lord's watching the test match right now boxing day that's in the mcg in australia
34:31so i try to make sporting holidays all the time i like there's yearly one holiday with my parents i go
34:37during diwali one holiday with my school friends four girlfriends that we have we've known each other for
34:4230 years since we were in nursery uh so one holiday that all of us do together then there's
34:48one sporting holiday so there's always something i look forward to with regards to travel um i really
34:54enjoy cooking because i've grown up in the kitchen in my restaurant and you know how to make romali
34:59roti which is like the toughest thing to do yes so came came to use in boomer and they were all
35:04surprising why do i know this so i said no no as a child i used to be in the kitchen i like baking more
35:09than cooking now because i love sugar i love eating sugar yeah yeah i'm a big it's a big problem
35:15you're not one of those people who like sort of supplement sugar with sugar-free or like severe
35:20no no i'll try i can't resist with just one scoop of ice cream so i try not having it at all or i have
35:26one liter of ice cream unfortunately can't have just one dark chocolate you know i have to have the whole
35:32slab so that's the problem so i really like baking i really like listening to old hindi music so when
35:40i'm not doing anything just with four five friends listening to old hindi music yeah what's your
35:44favorite hindi song favorite ever favorite ever is lagja gale lagja gale by lata pangishka no i can't
35:51sing my life not at all a lata pangishka song okay um okay like let's shift the gears with her i want to
36:00know um if that's not too intrusive are you seeing somebody when you do i endurance sport you have no
36:07time at all so you are the love of your life becomes your bicycle yeah and when i'm working it's either 12
36:15hours of work or six hours of uh so on instagram there's this funny reel that goes around when you
36:21hit 30 either you're getting married you're either having babies or you're doing fazlons so clearly
36:27you've got your answer which uh i'm sure there must be a lot of people like hitting on you and everything
36:33yeah and then i say come let's play cricket and let's go running and no no and then we are just
36:39bro's like i'm always the bro okay okay okay now i have a very fun game for you so which i need my
36:45phone so now this is basically a rapid fire only uh but um and like how did they care to share right
36:56so because your surname has here so i've made it here to share yeah let's do it okay okay so the concept
37:02is that i'm going to be like uh you know i'm going to be asking different names stories or instincts
37:09um but in a playful and straight i'm very bad with yeah but i'm very bad with rapid fire okay so um the
37:16first question is an actor you worked with who completely changed your perception of them
37:23on set abhishek bachchan yeah absolutely like in what way because see we all we all used to think right
37:30he's a bachchan he'll be a star and all that he is just the nicest sweetest yeah and just yeah
37:37completely okay a director whose way of working made you feel creatively fearless
37:44anura kashab because he is somebody who didn't i didn't have a script for chok yeah so in the
37:50morning when we used to go we used to just be like oh what what are we doing and it was all
37:55improv so i was so nervous but that kind of liberated me wow okay a woman in the industry
38:02whose hustle inspires you and you wish more people knew about it knew more people i mean
38:08priyanka chopra but everyone knows her hustle um but every single female in the film industry
38:16i feel is that person because it's a tough place to be and they are hustling
38:19and hopefully they reach their destination and enjoy the journey there um a poster you
38:26felt instantly comfortable with like no awkward face no warm-up it was just like you blended with
38:32well gulati and rosh and matthew they're both my best buddies wow okay um someone in the industry
38:39who feels like a true friend not just the colleague but at least two that you mentioned i mean there's
38:45rakis anura kashab and aar balki who are uh my and then of course rosh and pravel but yeah okay um
38:53if you could steal one person's filmography past or present whose will you choose i'd like to have
38:58my own list of filmography i'm happy not stealing okay i think everyone does their job very well okay
39:04the one actor who deserves to play a national level athlete or recipe
39:11faran akhtar has done a very good job and he's done it with tufan and with bhang mil khaba you need
39:16that kind of time and dedication so i think faran you would like to see him again yeah okay so uh now
39:23this round is called truth or talent so i'm going to give you a sentence here to complete it basically okay
39:29um this is in regards to you so i'm going to say a sentence like how siami would fade and you can
39:35finish the sentence okay uh i know i've done a great scene when when my heart tells me it's good
39:43okay uh the last time i felt like oh i need to prove myself again was to myself during this iron man
39:52okay the track yeah uh a role i auditioned for and i didn't get but still dream about sometimes
39:58is i didn't audition for it but i had wasn't talks for it i mean had spoken to the directors photograph
40:07that sanya maludra did uh which she was fantastic fantastic uh i don't see it often but i owe a lot to
40:16my parents and sister because if i don't have their backing they're my backbone they take all my
40:21tantrums and bad moods yeah okay one thing nobody knows about me on set is open book everyone knows
40:29everything no secrets at all okay that i can tell if i could whisper one sentence um to all the newcomers
40:38coming into this industry and trying to navigate their way through it what would it be keep at it
40:44and believe in yourself okay okay um now very quickly i have to whisper that to myself as well
40:52now very quickly since you're a runner uh this is the bonus round called run rest or repeat now i'm
40:59going to say certain things to you and if you feel like you want to avoid that situation you say i'm
41:05going to run if you feel like you want to pause and reflect upon it you say rest and if you loved it and
41:12i'm going to do it again you said repeat okay so run rest repeat okay my first is doing 40 takes for
41:18one emotional scene run and repeat run rest repeat do you want to pause it for this no run was what
41:26run is like i don't want to do it oh run away from it no no repeat i love doing my it's my favorite i
41:32love trying on speed oh okay okay sprinting at 5 am before a shoot i did it for goomer so i repeat okay
41:40watching your own work on screen never what is it you'd run yeah never yeah yeah being called too
41:48intense for a role being called too intense for a role have you ever been called that
41:55i mean i'd like to be called you'd like to be called so repeat yeah okay um have you okay this
42:02is a little inappropriate but have you ever fallen for a co-star on a set never or would you like to so
42:07run away from it yeah never will no actors okay reading youtube or instagram comments after a
42:13trailer drops never run away from it okay doing interviews with zero sleep i mean i'm not a big fan
42:22of school not to sleep i don't like that so run okay okay uh being told to smile more on set i'm always
42:30smiling i'm told not to smile so uh repeat okay auditioning for something no one thought you'd be
42:37able to put in definitely repeat that's the challenge yeah okay so apparently it's been great having you
42:43here just before you go one last question i have for you if you could reflect back on your journey and
42:48you could whisper something to your 20 year old self 20 year old family what would it be 17 actually
42:55because that's when i started okay yeah let's say 17 yeah so what would you say to her believe in
43:00yourself a little more yeah because i i was someone who always uh underplayed it and always uh
43:08didn't believe in myself enough so i'd say that to my 20 year old self and my current self is that i
43:14need to believe in myself more okay love me believe in yourself more i mean i need to say that to myself
43:20more of it as well but it's been a wonderful uh you know time thank you so much thank you so
43:27lovely to actually talk to authentic people who speak from the heart and uh they have no
43:32thoughts about talking about things as they are thank you and hopefully we'll be doing a half marathon
43:38with you the next time hundred percent hundred percent yeah oh on that note it's a wrap guys thank you
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