Actress Saumya Saraswat, who recently bagged a new show with Ekta Kapoor, gets candid with The Pioneer, sharing her journey, transition from background dancer to actor, and more.
Tejal Sinha
There’s been something very intriguing about the Imlie actor, Saumya Saraswat, when it comes to her journey and the way she looks at things in life. At least, that’s what we felt during our conversation with her. And in fact, talking of her journey in the industry, she feels it is just like how it is in any other institution. Going ahead and explaining to us more about it, she says, “People are working here, and there is not much to fantasise about it. Outsiders see it as a very fantasising word, but it is not. There is a lot of effort and hard work that people put in here. And when you talk about people, you just can’t trust everybody, and it’s similar to how it is everywhere: find people who are genuine.”
For the unaware, she began her journey as a background dancer, and ironically, she wasn’t much inclined toward acting. “I was into dancing, and things happened. I was always a performer, and I always used to adore cinema. So gradually, I was getting inclined toward it. My parents were apprehensive, even for my dancing, but then slowly I gained their trust, and they were okay with everything because everyone in my family is very much into degrees and graduations; they always wanted me to get a good degree.”
Well, one goes through a lot of struggles before they can make a mark in the industry, and many of you would agree to this too. But what Saumya feels is, “If you don’t get your head into the struggling days, wala world, it will be fine because if you are enjoying the process, then everything is good and fine. I never stressed out over anything, like, even when I was struggling, I wasn’t actually struggling because I was doing other things. I worked as a background dancer, so nothing was very stressful for me. I enjoyed the process, and I don’t regret anything. I have learned a lot of things during the process.”
In fact, when talking about her struggling days, there are also the ‘fake casting calls’. And that was something even she had to deal with. “It is very normal that people come across such a casting, and that is something that I have faced to date, but now I am very smart enough to have enough knowledge on how to deal with such people. Now I deal with it in a better way, but back then, when I wasn’t very aware of things, I fell for these people.”
“If you think about it, dancing and acting are kind of both performing arts, and there’s not much difference to it because you are anyways performing for the audience, and that is your real motive,” she explains about the transition and continues, “The transition took me a little to understand about what I am working for. Initially, I was dancing for the live audience, and now when I’m acting, it’s for the camera. So there’s just a technical difference! Art is everything that I’ve known since I was a kid. I wasn’t very much into studying. I wasn’t a very good student. I always used to fantasise dancing and plays in my school, though I wasn’t very good enough, and teachers used to not take me into plays or dance performances. I got rejected back then. So whenever I feel low, I go to classes and shows. I watch shows and plays.”
The actress has currently been in the news for bagging a new show with Ekta Kapoor and Chahenge Tumhe Itna, and to her, “This show is as much a responsibility as it is an achievement. There is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. As you all might have known by now, my character is a grey one, but the positive side of this character is that she’s an independent woman. She has a goal and a motive to achieve it. She wants to study further, and she’s looking forward to it. She is full of confidence. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s obsessed with her love, which is one-sided.”
She further adds, “I don’t feel any kind of complex with Geet because Geet and Saumya are two different kinds of people, completely different. I mean, I am not a materialistic person and don’t really get fascinated with things.”
Right now, she feels she is not very old, and so at the moment, she has no specific project-choosing process. But one thing that she makes sure of is that, “One thing I keep in mind is that the character has to be very important; it gives you challenges as an actor, and that is something very important because you should enjoy it throughout.”
There’s been something very intriguing about the Imlie actor, Saumya Saraswat, when it comes to her journey and the way she looks at things in life. At least, that’s what we felt during our conversation with her. And in fact, talking of her journey in the industry, she feels it is just like how it is in any other institution. Going ahead and explaining to us more about it, she says, “People are working here, and there is not much to fantasise about it. Outsiders see it as a very fantasising word, but it is not. There is a lot of effort and hard work that people put in here. And when you talk about people, you just can’t trust everybody, and it’s similar to how it is everywhere: find people who are genuine.”
For the unaware, she began her journey as a background dancer, and ironically, she wasn’t much inclined toward acting. “I was into dancing, and things happened. I was always a performer, and I always used to adore cinema. So gradually, I was getting inclined toward it. My parents were apprehensive, even for my dancing, but then slowly I gained their trust, and they were okay with everything because everyone in my family is very much into degrees and graduations; they always wanted me to get a good degree.”
Well, one goes through a lot of struggles before they can make a mark in the industry, and many of you would agree to this too. But what Saumya feels is, “If you don’t get your head into the struggling days, wala world, it will be fine because if you are enjoying the process, then everything is good and fine. I never stressed out over anything, like, even when I was struggling, I wasn’t actually struggling because I was doing other things. I worked as a background dancer, so nothing was very stressful for me. I enjoyed the process, and I don’t regret anything. I have learned a lot of things during the process.”
In fact, when talking about her struggling days, there are also the ‘fake casting calls’. And that was something even she had to deal with. “It is very normal that people come across such a casting, and that is something that I have faced to date, but now I am very smart enough to have enough knowledge on how to deal with such people. Now I deal with it in a better way, but back then, when I wasn’t very aware of things, I fell for these people.”
“If you think about it, dancing and acting are kind of both performing arts, and there’s not much difference to it because you are anyways performing for the audience, and that is your real motive,” she explains about the transition and continues, “The transition took me a little to understand about what I am working for. Initially, I was dancing for the live audience, and now when I’m acting, it’s for the camera. So there’s just a technical difference! Art is everything that I’ve known since I was a kid. I wasn’t very much into studying. I wasn’t a very good student. I always used to fantasise dancing and plays in my school, though I wasn’t very good enough, and teachers used to not take me into plays or dance performances. I got rejected back then. So whenever I feel low, I go to classes and shows. I watch shows and plays.”
The actress has currently been in the news for bagging a new show with Ekta Kapoor and Chahenge Tumhe Itna, and to her, “This show is as much a responsibility as it is an achievement. There is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. As you all might have known by now, my character is a grey one, but the positive side of this character is that she’s an independent woman. She has a goal and a motive to achieve it. She wants to study further, and she’s looking forward to it. She is full of confidence. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s obsessed with her love, which is one-sided.”
She further adds, “I don’t feel any kind of complex with Geet because Geet and Saumya are two different kinds of people, completely different. I mean, I am not a materialistic person and don’t really get fascinated with things.”
Right now, she feels she is not very old, and so at the moment, she has no specific project-choosing process. But one thing that she makes sure of is that, “One thing I keep in mind is that the character has to be very important; it gives you challenges as an actor, and that is something very important because you should enjoy it throughout.”
