From the beginning of her career to her experience in the industry till date, Inside Edge actress Himanshi Choudhry gets candid with Harleen Kaur
Actress Himanshi Choudhry, who has appeared in about 20 notable television shows including Kutumb, Kareena Kareena, Dil Ki Baatein Dil Hi Jaane, Tu Aashiqui and so on, recently appeared in Inside Edge Season 3. Choudhry’s projects have been well received by the audience. Moreover, she is all set to appear in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s forthcoming Six Suspects and Anurag Kashyap’s Dobaaraa.
Choudhary shares about the time she got interested in the pursuit of acting, “This was a long time back… I have been acting professionally since 2000 but I had studied musical theatre in America, in college. I had the plan to study theatre but I had never thought that I would be an actor because I used to be very shy. There was a class that I had to take in my course which pushed me to memorise monologues and I had to score well in that class, otherwise my grade point average would have dropped. So, I worked very hard and. My professor was extremely kind, I don’t know whether I was good or not but he was extremely positive. My classmates too were very positive. In the feedback, my professor gave me an ‘A’ for the performance, that keeda of acting came from him and from there.”
Further, on talking about life as an actor, she says, “My life as an actor has been good. I don’t know any other life, so I don’t know what to compare it with. I know that life as an actor is not really meant to be extremely cushy or that’s not the kind of job I have signed up for. I have been very lucky to have opportunities earlier on my career which helped me sustain myself financially and emotionally. I started getting more involved in understanding how the Indian film industry works, how the TV industry works. I don’t think I will ever change my profession. I can’t see myself not wanting to act in my life.”
On talking about her role in Inside Edge, the actress expresses, “Nobody was sure of how Inside Edge would turn out to be. I got the opportunity to do this web show because Gurmeet Singh was one of the associate directors. I had worked with him on a show which was on Epic channel. He knew that I fit the part in Inside Edge because he had worked with me and he told me, ‘I know it is not a very big part for you in the first season, but you are the only one I can see for this part and we really want to cast you’. I was very keen to work with him again. I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t know it would be a big success.”
Talking about her most favourite season, she shares, “Very honestly, the third season is my favourite, but I like all the seasons of Inside Edge. I really had fun during the second season. But as an audience, I feel that characters have evolved, so I think that in the third one, every one got more involved, in comparison to the first one.”
Choudhry has worked both in TV shows and OTT. On the same, she says, “In TV shows, everything is going at such a fast pace that you don’t really have time. Nothing is easy in TV, you have to be in character, no matter how tired you are. Also, I feel that roles in TV are hard to play. In OTT, I have had the time and space to get into the characters’ shoes and feel their emotions. We don’t really speed in 10 scenes a day in a web series. You have time to prepare for it but in TV, it doesn’t work like that. So, it works for some people, sometimes it does not work for some people but I like taking an adequate time in preparing. I think web shows do better for me.”
Additionally, the actress discussed about how entertainment had changed during the pandemic. On this, Choudhry adds, “Entertainment has not changed, people have changed. Firstly, entertainment, in this context ‘content’, is changed 10 times more than it used to be before Covid happened. Because we all know, ultimately, we all had too much time in our hands and once you get involved in the liking of a specific type of a show or film, you start exploring more. So, what it has done is, it has actually encouraged the audience to be a little more aware of their likes and dislikes. Everyone has Netflix and Amazon so they have a lot of choices to select from. Earlier, people did not really have time to pay attention either. So, I would like to say that audience is more evolved post-Covid, which is a great thing for all of us.”
She continued, “Also, the demand for quality content has become more. Now we can’t put out average or even semi-average content out there, for people. The content has to be good because the audience has become smarter. I think it’s a good thing that everyone is aware of the stuff they watch.”
While conversing about work-life balance, she shares, “I do not mix my personal and professional life too much. As an actor, your personal life starts gets involved with work. For me, I’m not just an actor, I more than that. I do other things in my life as well. I see that for a normal person, it is very easy to get carried away. To balance life, I indulge in my hobbies — I like colouring a lot, I think colours, sort of, bring out a lot of things which are in my head. I like other languages and I have been learning Spanish for a while. Also, I have been working in hospitality. I’m more than an actor, I’m a PERSON. In terms of balancing life, I believe that most of the time I succeed and sometimes I get worked up.”
The actress was also a part of the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI). Choudhry expressed, “It was great to be a part of MAMI Film Festival. That’s where I worked with hospitality. I worked as an International jury manager. I had a six members’ team that I was leading. I loved every day of this festival and got to meet very good people. Film is what I love, my intention is always to be a part of independent cinema and to be a part of MAMI in that way was really special.”
About her forthcoming projects, the actress explains, “To my fans, I would just like to ask them to keep watching whatever I do and I love feedbacks. I’m enjoying the kind of projects that are coming my way now. I would request everyone to support and watch as much as they can. Hopefully, these projects will be a blast!
(Inside Edge Season 3 started streaming on Amazon Prime Video.)
