Aneri Vajani: I’m not a reality show girl

Actress Aneri Vajani, known for her characters in Nisha aur uske cousins, Beyhadh, Silsila: Badalte Rishton ka, and Anupama, out of the many, gets candid with The Pioneer over an exclusive chat about her favourite character, her character-choosing process, being part of reality shows, and much more.

Tejal Sinha

Do great and feel great about yourself—that is what actress Aneri Vajani is. Out of her daily soaps, web series, and other works, she is best known for her characters in Nisha Aur Uske Cousins, Beyhadh, Silsila, Badalte Rishton ka, and Anupama.

While many believe in delivering as many films and shows as possible, that’s not what the Beyhadh actress believes in. In short, she believes in quality over quantity and makes sure she and her audience are satisfied with it.

In an exclusive interview with us, the actress gets candid about her favourite character, her character-choosing process, being part of reality shows, and much more.

If you regularly see the posts on her social media, you can see a lot of glitz and glamour, just like she is on screen.What goes on behind the scenes? Aneri says, “Me and my sister try jamming together, brainstorming together, and me trying to create something that somehow works for us. Like in television, there is this one look that you have to maintain until the show ends. So when I’m not doing shows or when I’m not on screen, I like experimenting with my looks.”

While being in the digital world and connecting with the fans might have its own pros and cons, she says, “I think that it’s all about your perspective. It’s all about how you conceive it. It’s all about how you take it. And for me, I have always tried to have a positive attitude towards anything that comes my way. Be it an actor or anyone in their life, they go through a lot of ups and downs. So as much as you cherish your highs, I think you should also cherish your losses. Luckily, I’ve been blessed with people not bashing me on social media. Out of the 2,000 comments, there will be one that does not want to encourage people. I am very happy with whoever I am today. I have built myself in such a way that it’s not going to affect me anymore.”

Having played various different characters, it is Nisha Aur Uske Cousins which is Aneri’s baby. “Hands down, Nisha is going to be the best role I’ve played so far. Nisha is my baby. I have given all that I have, given my blood, fractured my leg, walked around the clock, and not gone home for days. It was a breakthrough for me; that’s when people started connecting with me, and that’s when people really kind of appreciated me.”

Her character in Anupama was more of a cameo, but definitely an impactful one. However, when she left the show, it was not only upsetting for the team but also for her fans. In fact, being approached by the makers of Khatron ke Khiladi was one of the reasons she left the most-loved daily soap.

“What I did in Khatron ke Khiladi was for an experience. I just wanted to see how I would react when put in a situation, and yeah, I did pretty well. I did not expect to do a single stunt, but I ended up doing 15 without aborting them. In fact, if I’m thrown into such a situation, I don’t think I’ll ever give up. I’ll try to fight it out, and I did; I did everything I could, and I got a lot of credit for it. However, when it comes to being a part of the reality shows,” she says, adding, “I don’t think I’m a reality show kind of girl. I’m very attached and like being around my family. I love seeing my dadi (grandmother) every day I come.

I can’t make them go through so much stress, and most importantly for me, like I always say, “never say never,” you know, you never know what goes over you, but for now I’m very happy doing television. I would love to do OTT. I don’t like playing myself anywhere. I like playing something different all the time, so, as an actor, I think I’m very blessed that, you know, I get this opportunity to play different roles every now and then, and that really excites me. So, I believe that television, more than anything else, excites me. So I’m happy doing whatever I’m doing right now.”

Talking about Anupama, she says, “I just feel very overwhelmed with all the love. My character was always a cameo when I entered Anupama, my role was only for a month, but then it did so well that the team decided to continue with the character for more episodes. I entered midway, right? So I decided to do something different now. So hence, we made this conscious decision. It was also when I got Khatron. So, my director was like, “You should do whatever you feel like.” Though it was one of the most iconic characters, I wanted to do something new in terms of my characters. I would want to start being the protagonist and doing things my way. I want the show to be my baby again.”

So, before we could end the interview, we asked her about her project-choosing process. She says, “I should like the story, and I should like the character. I’m a very weird person that way. When a story comes to me and I feel like doing it, I do it. If I don’t feel like doing it, I am happy to wait because I don’t want to go to the sets and be upset about what I’m doing, so I would listen to the story and the character first and then take action. So I really don’t know what types of characters I would like to play now.”