Exclusive! Faria Abdullah: I got finalized for The Jengaburu Curse within 2 days

A popular face since her debut film Jathi Ratnalu, Faria Abdullah is now set to make her debut in the North Indian film industry. The actress will be seen in the web series, The Jengaburu Curse, which is set in Orissa. From her debut in the Telugu film industry to Hindi, she has sure come a long way.

During her exclusive chat with OTTplay, Faria talks about her struggles, naivety and learnings throughout her film career. She also spills minor details on her upcoming projects.

Excerpts from the interview…

How did The Jengaburu Curse happen? Which project were you working on? Did the director specify where he saw you and thus, offered you the role?

I had already done a bunch of South films - mostly Telugu (I'm also working on Tamil projects but none of them have released yet). Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director, had seen my film with Naveen Polishetty, which was a really big hit in the Telugu industry. Because of that, he knew me and I had already auditioned for him multiple times before. For this series, he thought of me. In a day or two, we finalized everything. It was a very quick process and there were no second thoughts about it. It just happened as it happened.

What made you say yes to the role?

It's a really intense story and is bigger than you, me and all of us. It's about the world and us as a species. Stories like these come very rarely, where you're at the centre of the whole narration.

I felt it was a great opportunity plus working with Nila Madhab sir was like a golden opportunity. So, I said I would love to do something like this. It has so many layers as a character and is a very intense story. So, yeah, that was it.

The Jengaburu Curse talks about a very real issue - the climate change. What in your personal capacity have you done to ensure you do your bit on climate change?

There are two things about this. One is the small things that I can do in my lifestyle, I try to change it because a small change is all it takes. Talking about it helps more. For example, using cotton more than wet wipes has been a major lifestyle change. Maybe cotton pads instead of plastic sanitary napkins. Small steps like these. Someday, maybe I turn vegan. It's like a daily balance between choices.

The second thing is, I also realise that not everybody has the capacity to do stuff like this. So, whoever is doing it in their full-blown capacity, I try to support that cause and those groups. Back home in Hyderabad, we have a big community working on sustainable living and development. I try to also avoid fast fashion as much as possible. It is a part of my field. So, little things.

You started your career at a tender age and have received a fair amount of recognition already, at the age of 24. Tell me about the pros and cons of that for you.

Pros would be that you get to live this travel life and do what you love doing in different parts of the world. You get to meet so many different, amazing, creative people and vibe with them. That's my favourite part about this.

Cons would be that we're constantly under self-criticism and self-observation about what works and doesn't. It can be stressful for the mind sometimes. Thus, building self-security is a very important part of this career. That's because you are in the field where, actually it's human nature to compare and criticize. Then I'm told that it's just been 2 years and I don't have to be so hard on myself. That is when I take things really easy and then I have to bring myself back to reality.

Very rarely you meet actors who don't take life too seriously or have a starry tantrum. What keeps you grounded?

Empathy does. I understand that nobody really wants to make things worse for anybody. Everyone wants the best for themselves. They want to have a really good life, unless people are like crazy or something.

I kind of understand that everyone's trying to do their best everyday. I don't like to be too hard or picky about a lot of things but then when it comes down to putting my voice forward about something that I don't like or making boundaries clear, that's something I've had to become a bit more strong in. Otherwise, I tell people to live like they want and do their own thing. More like live and let live.

How has your upbringing helped you go through the highs and lows of life?

It's totally helped me. I think my personality consists 80% of my mom. She's into healing and therapy and personality development. A lot of the learnings she has embedded into me and my sister, it has made life a lot easier, to use those tools and maneuver around life. My understanding of energy and mind and how to deal with people - what people call people management - comes from that.

Also, my dad. I think he has this fear that he would die without giving us enough information in life. So, whenever he gets a chance, he injects all sorts of information into his kids. He's like, this is evolution and how DNA works, this is astrophysics and science. He just goes on about everything. That also has helped a lot. I'm a mix of both of them.

Talking about your debut film Jathi Ratnalu, how would you say you handled the success of the film since it was unexpected?

Arre buddy my life toh changed only na. Suddenly, the maximum social interaction I had with different art circles in Hyderabad (dance, theatre), was after the release of the film. All the Telugus of the world knew who Chitti was. I was like, what is that? I can't understand. My brain is not able to comprehend. For a year, I was just riding on the Chitti fever. All the events that I was a part of for a year was just about that. So, for a while, I was not an actor but a heroine who had just gained fame. From there onwards, it was a choice I had to make - either I continue to live this massive worshipping and do the commercial cinema or I can continue to choose to be an actor. For a while, I felt that I had to make the choice but didn't realise that I can do both and it doesn't matter. So, I was stuck in that loop for a bit while trying to up my game from Jathi Ratnalu. I don't think it works like that. The film just happened out of the blue. It was the one-of films that become something that you don't even expect it to become. Expecting other things to be similar to that or around that is just unfair for myself also. Having complaints around that would be really ugly.

Apart from Jathi Ratnalu, you have been a part of popular movies like say, Most Eligible Bachelor. So, why choose Bangaraju, which saw you in a special appearance, despite the success of your debut film?

There were multiple things. The first reason was Nag sir. It was his film and Bangaraju was from a popular franchise. Since the prequel was a huge hit, it was a good foundation to be a part of. Secondly, I really like dancing. So, when I heard the song, I thought to myself that it is a really upbeat song and I wouldn't mind being a part of it. Because of my openness towards it and less understanding of how the industry works, I went ahead and did it. If I had known and had been less rebellious about the fact that I'll do whatever I want to do and feel like doing, I might not have done a lot of things.

I had signed Most Eligible Bachelor along with Jathi Ratnalu. I was a part of two films without knowing the difference in how it would play out. They're just learnings that I needed to understand - 1. Myself and 2. How the industry reacts to different things.

Tell me about your theatre stint. You have been a part of the theatre culture for a long time. Do you still balance between films and theatre?

Theatre requires a lot of time so I haven't been able to balance that as of now. I don't have the commitment right now for that long a schedule. I also like to be a no-strings-attached person. I should be able to do whatever I feel like whenever I want. In case I have a film that commences tomorrow, I should be able to do that, is my mentality.

Theatre, obviously, does not fall into that schedule right now. There's something that has been calling me for a while. I want to direct and compose a play but it is going to take a while and will need me going back to theatre.

I have done direction for short plays and stuff before but I want to do a full-length play and that would take a while.

Your upcoming projects?

There's a Telugu film I'm doing and a Tamil movie with Vijay Anthony.