Shama Sikander, who impressed every person together with her easy character of Pooja in TV serial ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’, has grown by leaps and bounds within the trade. She has been part of a only a few however impactful initiatives in her profession. The actress not too long ago sat down with ETimes for a freewheeling chat the place she spoke about her humble background, rising up as a film buff, standing of feminine actors within the trade at the moment and extra.Excerpts…
Even after many years, folks nonetheless fondly bear in mind you as Pooja from ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’. How does it really feel?
It feels actually heartwarming, truly. It looks like I did one thing proper. It looks like no matter laborious work I put into taking part in that character was appreciated. The present was launched in 2005 and we’re in 2023 now. Even in any case these years, if folks can bear in mind me for that character, I will need to have made a robust influence. I really feel pleased with myself to have the ability to pull off one thing like that and to have the ability to create house in folks’s hearts and their minds that they nonetheless not solely bear in mind me however numerous them present me the identical love that they did after I was doing that present, and when the present was on air. It is also a really gratifying and humbling expertise to be sincere.You’ve gotten typically spoken about coming from a humble background. Is that what nonetheless retains you grounded?
Sure, it certainly does. While you see issues from zero and also you construct it by yourself, there’s numerous laborious work, there’s numerous failures that you simply undergo they usually actually floor you, they actually present you the mirror and educate you numerous, provide you with numerous knowledge and information about life. It taught me how every part is simply momentary and the way I ought to simply get pleasure from it for the second and for the journey as a result of what you change into to realize no matter objective you need to obtain, what you change into on the way in which is what your true function is.
So for me, it actually would not matter what your objectives are. What issues to me is what I change into to realize that objective and the way I permit myself to blossom totally into the individual that I want and aspire to be.
Have been you a film buff rising up? Whom did you idolise?
I used to be completely a film buff. I come from Makrana which is a small place in Rajasthan. It’s well-known for marbles. It is a small place however folks have a giant coronary heart there and we had our personal cable. So I watched numerous films on daily basis. I nonetheless do not forget that we used to play one thing on TV and all people in our mohalla used to return and watch. We needed to improve the amount so it may attain the final one that was watching in one other home.
And I’ve additionally seen films in theatres. My dad and grandfather had been additionally large film buffs. We cherished watching films. I believe I watched too many Bollywood movies. I did not solely watch movies, I lived them. I used to return again and narrate the entire story with dialogues and with motion and with every part. Individuals who could not afford to go to theatres, they used to name me for his or her private leisure. I believe that is how my father thought that I used to be an excellent actor and I used to be entertaining so many individuals and retaining them busy with my efficiency as a toddler.
I used to like Meena Kumari ji, Dilip Kumar saab, Dharmendra ji, Balraj Sahni ji, and Mumtaz ji rising up. Throughout my teenage years, I used to be an enormous fan of Sridevi. She has left such a big impact on my life by her performances. I simply wished to be like her. She was a particularly gifted and flawless actor. I believe she was simply the epitome of magnificence for me.
Inform us one thing about your preliminary days within the leisure trade.
My preliminary days had been very attention-grabbing. I obtained all types of experiences. I got here throughout individuals who wished me to alter my title, some wished to alter my persona, and a few wished to alter the complete me. However slowly, you be taught who you actually are. And you then draw that boundary to not permit anyone to alter you and mold you in a selected method that they assume is all proper for the trade and also you change into your individual particular person.
I’m not any person who folks can impose their very own concepts of a persona on. I’ve been a really free thinker proper from my childhood. I’m a really religious particular person and I used to be all the time very related to myself. I used to be very clear about this proper from the beginning that I do not even want folks in my life who can not settle for me for who I used to be. The trade could be very totally different at the moment. Nevertheless, earlier, folks had been very shut minded and judgmental. And I’m glad that I stood my grounds and I didn’t quit.
Right this moment actresses are not eye sweet and getting their dues as an actor within the trade. Nevertheless, this was not the case whenever you began your profession. How do you have a look at this modification at the moment as an actor?
Sure, that’s true. It was not the case after I began my profession. Nevertheless, I’ve been very fortunate to get feminine centric roles from the start of my profession. In many of the work that I’ve executed and other people know me for, these have been actually appreciated and cherished by folks. So I’m very grateful that I used to be all the time appeared upon as any person that folks can belief as an artist.
However at the moment I’m seeing this nice change and I thank God that it is taking place as a result of it was lengthy due. We wanted this modification. Ladies are an equal member of society and infrequently they aren’t celebrated and appreciated for what they convey to the desk. We have to hold having conversations about it as a result of the extra we speak about it, the extra folks will get aware of the identical. It’s a optimistic change and I’m glad that the world is shifting in the suitable course.