In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, Sakshi Vaidya, who recently made her debut with Agent, opens up about instantaneously picking up the Telugu dialect, pressures while entering the industry, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
While some called debutante actress Sakshi Vaidya’s debut movie Agent ‘very annoying’, others called it a typical movie. But what came out as a constructive review for the actress, made her debut performance feel relevant. At least her character wasn’t swept under the rug, neither was she called a glut of below average actresses.
And so, right after Agent, she began preparing for her upcoming role, and will grace the screens once again! So in an interaction with her, we catch up with the ingenue, while she says, “We started shooting in a Hyderabadi cafe. None of us were in our movie mood; we were just trying to get the hang of our characters. It was just the beginning. I saw Akhil enter and met him for the first time! To me, he’s a biggie here, I was a tad bit panicky about whether he’d be interested in having a conversation with me or not. But he obliged me a lot, and never made me feel like I was away from my hometown.”
Hailing from Bombay, the actress continues, “When I was following Telugu movies, coincidentally, my interests lied in spy-thrillers only, and then I got one! Too many graphics and VFX are very enticing to see. On the sets, my director was continuously asking me to improvise on my own, so that shows his collaborative nature. Even Akhil told me behind the camera that the director is really bringing out the best in him. I wasn’t asked to create specific emotions; it was all up to me. To show faith in a debutante was also very comforting for me, as was the director’s approach. So my creative freedom was channelised well.”
While in conversation with her, we noticed how the actress had instantaneously picked up words from the Telugu dialect, like here and there, and we began to cackle together. She described, “I was intentionally picking up on the dialect when in Hyderabad. I am all ears when people talk here! I’m trying my best to sound more like a Telugu girl. Now because my character in Agent comes from an educated background, that’s where I made the role my own. I am glad my debut role wasn’t for me to play a rural character because that would have been difficult to pull up immediately. Because I belong to an urban city!”
More interestingly, she’s a pilot in the movie, so she says, “I have a few friends of mine working in the aviation industry. One of my friend works at the Begumpet airport! I met him, and we spoke a lot about aviation, but I have a phobia of heights. So in my real life, I never thought of exploring this angle ever. But a movie can make you do unexpected things! So he took me to the cockpit — the discussions inside it made me realise its beauty.”
Pressures of entering the industry? She says, “To become an actress, first of all, you have to be an extremely outgoing person. You’ll have to be open to escapades on sets! If you are unable to manage the bad moods on the sets or with your director, it’s difficult to move forward in this industry. Most importantly, we aren’t allowed to be inflexible! You’ll have to be open to improvisation; you can’t go unbending at the last minute like a superstar. Having said that, when we speak of frauds in the movie industry — little do people know that I was already aware of so many online scams because I was earlier a social media star.
That made me apprehensive, I was getting a lot many offers even before Agent, but was looking for something that’s taut in nature. Authenticity is the right word. You don’t realise on telephones or emails whether an agency is trying to pull a swindle on you. Agent was that movie where I got a professional call from the casting director, and then I went ahead with this movie.”
Because she’s an actress, sometimes there’s also the pressure of keeping the enviable beauty alive, but does Sakshi really believe in having a figure worth a million bucks?
Let’s find out! Sakshi affirms, “Another unknown fact about me: I am a physiotherapist by profession. I don’t believe in diets, especially when you are in Hyderabad — how can you surpass the feast? I’ll eat in proportions, but no taxing diet!”
