HOW TO WIN HEARTS ALL OVER: A CRASH BY WAMIQA GABBI

The actor lets us in on her ever-changing world where the only constant is love!

- Simi Kuriakose

“I’m that girl you’ve seen somewhere, but can’t remember where.’ I was aware of Wamiqa Gabbi’s Instagram bio. Not sure when I turned into a cyber sleuth on the supposed ‘new kid on the block’. Actually...I am certain of the time frame. It was some time after watching her impressive portrayal of Niloufer Qureshi—a courtesan-turned-movie star who, like a jack-in-the-box, pops up doubts in one’s mind on whether she is likeable or not—in Vikramaditya Motwane’s period drama show Jubilee (2023), which is nothing short of an apt ode to the Golden Age of Indian Cinema. My Insta investigation on Wamiqa also ensued from recognising her from Basil Joseph’s (yes, of the 2021 superhero film Minnal Murali fame, for the uninitiated) Malayalam directorial Godha (2017)...I remembered my sister’s comment about how “this North Indian girl [sic] is on par with” her favourite actor Tovino Thomas.

Case made: Yes, years ago, Wamiqa was probably that girl you knew of...just not too well. So when I begin chatting with the 31-year-old actor, I ask her to correct me if I am wrong about whether her hilarious social media bio comes from her being unsure of where she stands in the industry. “I started as a child artist, so the urge to have people come up to me, appreciate my work, or even know me, has been there for a long time. But, mostly, people would come to me and say, ‘I’ve seen you somewhere; I can’t remember where!’. Then, I would have to tell them, ‘Ye dekha tha, ya ye dekha tha (‘did you watch this [names her film], or this [names another film])’ because I have worked in [multiple industries] Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu. My journey has been such a slow burner, that [the phrase on her Insta bio] is all I have heard. So, I started relating to it too. Of course, it doesn’t come from a very deep space...it is just fun,” she says.