Winning Hearts, Wamiga Gabbi

POPULARLY AND LOVINGLY KNOWN AS PREMIQA, WAMIQA GABBI IS AN ACTOR WHOSE JOURNEY HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF EXTRAORDINARY. WITH A CALM CONFIDENCE THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES AND EYES THAT HOLD AN UNDENIABLE BEAUTY, SHE HAS CARVED A SPACE IN PEOPLE'S HEARTS WITH HER INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCES. SHOT AGAINST THE BREATHTAKING LANDSCAPES OF SHARJAH, NATURE'S TRUE MASTERPIECE, THIS COVER STORY CAPTURES WAMIQA IN HER ELEMENT: GRACEFUL, POWERFUL, AND COMPLETELY UNSTOPPABLE. SHE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, AND SHE MEANS BUSINESS!

- By Soumya Maheshwari

Wamiqa is not the type to revel in her own success. In fact, she approaches her art with humility and compassion. "To be better at your craft, you have to be a better person," she tells me, her voice carrying the kind of conviction that comes from living the philosophy, not just preaching it. With a strong belief that love has the power to transform, to heal, and to connect us to something greater, Premiqa (as she fondly calls herself!) has built up an impressive portfolio of movies, with extraordinary performances in the film industry, hitting it big with Jubliee, Khufiya, and Baby John. And from the looks of it, she’s only just begun!

It has been a decade that you have been in the industry, do you feel that woah! I have actually made it?

The kind of background and family that I have come from, it is almost impossible for anybody to even dream what I am living. So I think I had already made it when I got my first few chances back then and now it is my journey—how much I work on my craft and how much better I get in the future. But for my family, I have made it!

It is hard to imagine that in 2019, you had thought of leaving the industry.

Back in 2019, I found myself at a crossroads. I realised that the work I was doing no longer brought me joy. It felt like I was simply working for the paycheck. My father always told me, “Do the work that makes you happy,” and his words stuck with me. I thought I would change my career because I was not getting the kind of work I wanted to do. This industry can be incredibly unpredictable; it is hard to know if you will find success or even land the opportunities you dream of. That constant pressure can weigh you down. Fortunately, around that time, I auditioned for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Netflix series