Exclusive! Flames actress Tanya Maniktala: It's hard to be a carefree teenager in today's time

Among the many series out there that talk about the youth, Flames happens to have connected beautifully with many. OTTplay caught up the lead actress Tanya Maniktala near her web series Flames season 3’s release and spoke to her about the pressure the young blood faces today. 

We all face psychological pressure to be on our toes thanks to social media. This especially holds true for gen z who has to look good among their social circle and thus, they have to stay updated right from what their colleague had for breakfast to what the president’s ideologies are. They just cannot afford to mess up or make any mistakes, especially when a celeb. Tanya feels that most of these pressures are ‘self-induced.’ 

In conversation with OTTplay, the actress opens up on how the digital era made it harder for teenagers to live a stress-free life. She, however, admits that most of it is self-induced. 

Tanya told OTTplay, “I think it is hard to live the life of a teenager and youngster now than our previous generation; maybe because of a lot of self-induced pressure, coming from world exposure through the digital mediums. I think teenagers are now neither being treated as a kid nor just growing adult who is just about learning...they are forced to gain maturity much faster.” 

She went on to add, “Mujhe lagta hai hum khud hi wo standard banate hai aur bucket list ko fulfill karne mein lag jaate hai...we somewhere put ourselves into the rat race and feel pressured by it. Of course, we are living in a much more competitive world and we have the plan to become the young achiever!" 

Drawing the parallel from the characters of the web series, Rajat and Ishita, Tanya also mentioned how the narrative celebrates the innocence of these teenagers. 

“One of the reasons why this show is special for me is, here we are still trying to highlight the beauty of the innocence, the warmth of pure friendship alive in between these kids who are in their teenage, who are about to experience the harsh world outside,” explained the actress, while also hinting about what the third season is all about. 

Tanya started her acting career with Flames season one when she was still finishing her studies. She was in college. She got her international fan base post the release of her second web series titled A Suitable Boy, directed by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair. 

Flames season 3 is directed by Divyanshu Malhotra and produced by Arunabh Kumar of TVF. It also features Ritvik Sahore, Sunakshi Grover, Shivam Kakar and Deepesh Sumitra Jagdish. The show is currently streaming on Prime Video.