Exclusive! Seher Bhamba: There’s equal amount of competition with opportunities today

Recently seen in Dil Bekaraar as the female lead, Seher Bhamba is leading the way on OTT. The actress, who actually made her debut on the platform with The Empire, had some interesting things to say about OTT. She believes that while the platform provides opportunity, it also increases competition thanks to that.

Excerpts from the interview…

You won the Fresh Face award which paved a career path for you. It is what got you noticed and into B-Town. Do you believe OTT does the same thing for actors who otherwise keep trying to find a way into the industry?

It’s a strange thing. People feel I won Fresh Face and that is why I landed up the film. After I won it, it had nothing to do with me landing the film. It was just the timing. I won Fresh Face and one of my friends from Fresh Face suggested my name for auditions. The casting director didn’t know me at all. That’s how he got in touch with me, not caring whatsoever whether I won the pageant or not.

To answer your question though, I feel there is so much work that is being churned out. It’s a great time for all the aspiring actors out there. The work that used to be limited is changing with time. It is a great time for aspiring actors to enter the film industry because lots of great content is being churned out and great parts are being written.

You are relatively a fresher face in the industry. Did you have to go the extra mile to present yourself in front of both viewers as well as the makers?

In terms of trying to hold my craft, most definitely. Today, with so many opportunities, there’s an equal amount of competition. Everybody’s great. So it is very important to time-and-again to stay motivated and constantly hone your craft, learn, unlearn certain things and all of that. That is why I give my 200% to every project I take up.

Did OTT openly welcome you or were there struggles even there?

It kind of did welcome me, in that sense. I’m so glad that it happened with The Empire because it was such a big show. I really enjoyed working on a series in a specific era. I feel like you very rarely get opportunities to be a part of a periodic drama. I’m very glad for what Empire did for me.

While you made your debut with a movie - Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas with Karan Deol - the next switch was OTT. Is it your attempt at exploring both the mediums before finalizing on one?

No. It wasn’t a conscious decision at all. I’ve grown up watching the songs and the dance so I’m all for your commercial cinema. At the same time, a lot of things have changed because of the pandemic. The lines between OTT and feature films have gotten blurred. For me, I look at a project as a project and not whether it’s a feature film or OTT. If something excites me, I take it up regardless.

Talking about Karan, his film Velle is also co-incidentally slated for release soon after Dil Bekaraar. So have you both become co-stars to competitors now?

Well, he’ll never be my competition for the simple fact that we are really close friends and I always wish him well. I’m very excited for his film.

Coming to Dil Bekaraar, it is based on Anuja's book, Those Pricey Thakur Girls. Did you have to read the book to get the character reference or dived into the script?

We directly went with the script. Since it’s an adaptation of a novel, there were certain changes in the script. So the director, Habib sir, was very clear that we should only stick to the script. He asked us not to confuse ourselves by reading the book as well as the script. Now since the show is out, I’m very intrigued to read the book now.

What is your perspective about Debjani? Do you relate to her?

I relate to her completely. She’s very progressive, feisty and at the same time, very innocent in certain situations. One commonality is that we’re both big time animal lovers. I’ve actually fought with people who were mean to animals. So when I got to know about Debjani, I knew it was me.

What has the response to the show been like?

Yes, even today I wake up to beautiful messages from people - from the industry and otherwise. To be honest, I didn’t expect so much love for the series and Debjani’s character. I’m just very grateful for all the love the show is receiving.

Do you believe that the reaction you all expected from the audiences, is exactly what you received?

Since it is an adaptation of a novel and the book was very famous. There’s already a certain fan following for the book. In fact, I felt a little pressurized in my own head because I knew that Dejani’s character is much loved. To bring that on-screen and find out whether people will like my interpretation of her, was something that I wasn’t very sure of. Of course, I trusted my directors. To answer your questions, it’s not that I was expecting the kind of love I’m getting right now.

What was your takeaway from the show?

My biggest takeaway was that I learnt so much about the 80s. I collaborated with two very talented directors, Habib Faisal and Tarun Mansukhani. It was literally like having two passionate teachers teaching you the same subject. Their ways might be different but eventually me as a student, I was learning from both of them. All the sisters, in reality, we have a great bond even today. We have a Whatsapp group where we chitchat. So I feel like my biggest takeaway would be the people in the show and the veteran actors like Raj sir, Poonam and Padmini ma’am. Just to watch them perform was a great learning in itself. We became like a little family by the end of the show. We would chitchat, eat and have fun between shots.

Were you intimidated by veteran actors such as Raj Babbar and Padmini Kolhapure? Since they came from the 80s, they bring their own aura on sets.

I in fact wasn’t intimidated at all. Nobody was intimidated actually because they made everybody feel so comfortable. Raj sir is like a teddy bear. He’s just so sweet. He’s the cutest person. He would never get irritated if there was chaos happening on sets or things not going as planned. He would just be chilling and cracking a joke. He’s just adorable.

What's the way ahead for Seher?

I have a lot of interesting things in the pipeline (touchwood). With time, everybody will know about it.