Delhi girl Soundarya Sharma looks up to Anupam Kher as a mentor. By A Paljor
The funky East Delhi girl, Soundarya Sharma, is ready to be the next new face of Bollywood. However, the path wasn’t easy for her. “I always wanted to be an actor but never knew how. Twice I ran away from my home as my parents were not ready to accept my choice,” shares Sharma, who comes from a normal middle class family where she was always expected to have a set form of life.
“Unlike the old time stories of directors picking up actors from here and there, today, we have acting schools and this to a certain extent eliminates the prospect of uncertainty.”
But fate was on her side. Soon after she landed in Mumbai, she met Sattwik Mohanty (director). “When I met Sattwik, he just handed me the script and told me to read it. I wasn’t even aware that it was supposed to be an audition. And when I read the script, I was able to associate myself with Gudiya,” says Sharma.
After auditioning for six-seven months in a row, she completely grew into her character. “Since at that time I was looking for a job, I got myself into the character and the mere fact that Sattwik wanted me to read my character’s lines made me happy. When Sattwik told me that he would be casting me, I stopped auditioning for others. He wanted me to be in the skin of the character and get a hold of the dialect and the body language.”
Sharma, who was born and brought up in Preet Vihar, is glad to have Ranchi Diaries as her debut film. “Unlike the paraphernalia associated with female actors and the need to have a set image, especially for your debut film, I was happy to have a chance to really discover myself — from songs like Fashion Queen to perform and to a performance driven character. And to be working alongside Satish Kaushik and Anupam Kher was really nourishing.” She looks up to Kher as her mentor, both in front of the camera and behind it for a continuous emotional support.