I Have Arrived, And I am Here To Stay!

- Riya Lakhmani

How did you start your journey and how has it been? Can you share some anecdotes from the days of your struggle?

My dad used to run Nukkad Natak theatre in Howrah. He never took me to his plays as he thought that since his daughter was good at studies, she should focus only on that. My passion for acting came from him. When I was in the 11th standard, I made my portfolio. I was a model for Sabyasachi Mukherjee for five-six years and I was the showstopper for all his shows. I got my first Bengali movie after shifting to Mumbai and my first film released 4 years after it was made. Basically, everything happened but slowly, after testing my patience. But, even during the time when I wasn’t working on any film, I worked for commercials. I was once the face of Fair and Lovely, Vaseline, Colgate and Seven Up.

Did you ever encounter the dreaded casting couch ?

The movie industry is one of the safest place for girls yahaan koi tumhara rape nahi karega, but there are also many people who will try to manipulate you a bit. Also, if somebody is trying to convince me to get into the casting couch, I can refuse. My career wouldn’t end here. If you are at some other work place, you are told to do that and you refuse. You might end up losing that job. But, yahaan aisa nahi hai, zyada se zyada haath se ek film nikal jayegi, duniya khatam nhi ho jati. It does exist not only in the film industry but everywhere else also. Even I was offered many times, but I decided to not do such projects. I didn’t want to work with such people. I thought nahi karna inke saath kaam ek do saal aur struggle kar lenge.