Geetika Vidya Ohlyan an Indian theatre practitioner and movie actor (#Soni, #Thappad fame) speaks to Ramdas Shenoyy from Stirfrymba.
A born actor or trained to be an actor
Everyone is a born actor. A child acts out crying for her mother to feed her, our mythological characters have been liars (and hence actors on more than one occasion), most Indian parents are actors every mother has lied to her kids and so has every father. Who isn’t a born actor that way? My training started at The Players, the theatre society of my college – KM College (University of Delhi) and has been good on since then.
Quality to know that you are made for performing arts
By being in touch with one’s inner-self.
Experience in Soni and Thappad
Enriching, emboldening, exhilarating and reaffirming of all of my optimistic beliefs.
With so much of ‘nepotism’ discussed, the challenges of being part of the Indian movie industry for the so-called outsider
I choose to offer a Namaskar to the humans of Indian cinema. My first film ‘Soni’ (Netflix Original) that has received an overwhelming amount of love from audiences and appreciation from industry veterans had no ‘insider’ as part of it. CCFA even bestowed the best actress in Hindi films award on me for the same. My recent film ‘Thappad’ (Amazon Prime) that has stirred debates and is garnering attention and appreciation is helmed by Taapsee Pannu ‘an outsider’ herself. ‘Unfair and Lovely’ the film I currently am working on is being shouldered by Ileana D’Cruz, Randeep Hooda and I all of us ‘outsiders’ and am very sure of the impending love that it will receive from the audience.
These facts of my career and my perspective give me hope and strength to keep giving my best to whatever comes my way. I haven’t had the time and/or inclination of analyzing the curses of being an outsider, have been too busy working on myself and receiving returns for the same .
In Indian movie industry it is easy to get typecast, how are you addressing it?
I do not understand the ‘industry’ part of movies yet. Being blessed with an imaginative mind, an optimistic perception and good work opportunity till now I haven’t found myself in a position to reaffirm the stereotypes of what you call ‘Indian Movie Industry’ . In terms of career I possess peace inside of me and would allow life to unfold rather than burdening it with preconceived notions of potential ways of injustice.
Advice to an aspiring actor and is there an age barrier to enter the profession
Value your health – physical, mental and spiritual. A healthy body and mind would be your tool, vehicle and weapon in your journey.
This isn’t a state sponsored job for it to have any age barrier. We have living beings of all ages around us, don’t we? So, when the stories are told on screen, actors of all ages are needed. Also, literature and cinema have a unique relationship with the world as we see it. I believe they both catch, create and reflect the shift in people’s perspectives. We are people. We change our perspective, and voila! We start seeing the reflections of the same all around us.
#GeetikaVidyaOhlyan #Netflix #AmazonPrime #Soni #Thappad #TaapseePannu #RandeepHooda #tapsee #UnfairAndLovely #KMCollege #CriticsChoiceFilm