Enrapturing hearts every time on-screen, model-actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia gets candid with The Pioneer about working in back-to-back music videos, her recent Jaane Jaa, being now in a much better phase in life, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Wearing her heart on her sleeves, the beauty queen and actress Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia is a woman of essence. A well-known face in the television industry and now a rising star in Bollywood, the diva has been the talk of the town for quite a while now. “I hope it’s all for the right reason (we laugh out loud).” As we begin this fun chat, she feels grateful and blessed about it every day that she wakes up.
Bringing back-to-back bangers after Zihaal-e-Miskin and Soniye, she’s once again taken her fans into a frenzy with her recent release, Jaane Jaa, starring alongside Sooraj Pancholi. With consecutive music videos, one after the other, she didn’t really want to let it go since it was all nothing less than ‘opportunities’ for her. She shared, “I honestly feel like if great things are coming your way and you’re getting to do different things, then just go ahead. Zihaal-e-Miskin is a sad, heartbreaking song, Soniye is a groovy dance number, and Jaane Jaa is all action. I felt that with all the opportunities that came my way, I’d been part of some great music and connected myself with some great talents. I never really planned it out. It just happened, and I felt that if you’re getting to do something new and part of something that’s so good, why not?”
Talking of Jaane Jaa, it also marks her second collaboration with the VYRL Originals, after the smacking hit Zihaal-e-Miskin, which has now crossed over 200 million views. A super enthusiastic Nimrit said, “When they made me hear the song, I really loved it. Atif Aslam, Asees Kaur being the voice of it, Jaane Jaa is an iconic song, plus there is DJ Chetas, bringing a new vibe to it, who can even say a ‘NO’ to it. I think the thing I liked the most was the action. It was just fun, so I was like, ‘Let’s just have some fun’.”
A fresh avatar of one of the masterpieces of the 1970s, where you have everything right from action to drama. But at a time when recreating a song is in contention, was there any sort of pressure on being compared to the iconic song? Well, not really, said the Choti Sardaarni actress, as she explained, “I feel that when there are different people coming together and bringing their own creative energy, it is always going to bring something different from what it is. I don’t think it’s an attempt to recreate something, and like you said, it’s so different from the original one. It’s just to bring a whole different interpretation to this iconic song, and hopefully people are loving it. More than just the insecurity of what people say, nobody has done that (she giggled). I mean, it would be really stupid to recreate that. There is no recreation, but a different interpretation, and that’s what I feel is beautiful about art in general.”
The Bigg Boss 16 fame further had all praise for her co-star Sooraj for the fun experience she’s had while shooting Jaane Jaa. The song is a combo of action, adventure, and fighting for your love. Taking us through her preparations for the song, she shared, “We had a lot of fun while preparing for it because everyone was so into it. Even before we went on set, everything was photographed, and we were streaming it for a couple of days, and you know that experience was very kickass. We were very lucky to have Prateek sir, who was training us for it. It was just so easy because we had done all of the prep already, so we knew exactly what to do. I think there’s a lot of fun when you’re preparing for a lot of stuff—for anything, for that matter—because trying out something new is always fun.”
When it comes to her projects, she does not really have a big list of criteria in her head, but she goes through her instincts. When it feels right on her head, and as long as she gets to do something different, you’ll surely see her enrapturing your hearts again and again (wink). As an artist, she always looks for projects where she can explore herself and understand her strengths and weaknesses to do better. One of the well-known faces who has opened up about battling mental health issues includes Nimrit too. During her stint at the Bigg Boss house, Nimrit said that she has battled anxiety and depression and has also received treatment in the past. But now she shared that she’s at a much better phase in her life. She explained, “I think when things are not going right for you, like there may be many aspects and you feel like a burden, and trust me when I say, I’m a workaholic. I love doing work. I think I’m the happiest when I’m on the set and in front of the camera.Of course, there was work pressure, and I think that’s something that’s always going to be there. There were also a lot of things that I was battling internally, but I just feel very happy that I’m at a phase where it’s been more than a year since I’ve been off my medication. I was on it for close to a year, and now it’s been a year that I’ve been off it. I feel very proud, and I’m so happy where I am mentally and physically, so I think I’ve been able to come back with all of the things that are happening. There was at least this thing where I felt that if one thing went wrong, all the other things would go wrong. But now it’s like I don’t even think, ‘Oh, this is going to burden me’. I just love working a lot. And I’m mostly in a very exciting phase, doing something different and working, and I’m the happiest when I’m at work.”
Ending this fun chitter-chatter on a brighter note, she concluded, “The roadmap for me ahead is not to think too much. When you think too much, your roadmap starts to stretch more and you don’t enjoy yourself. It’s always good to work hard and look out for the right opportunities that I can relate to, and also try to do different things.”
