MAANVI GAGROO: Cover Story

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The Chanchal of TVF’s Tripling and the understanding Shreya of TVF’s Pitchers, Maanvi Gagroo comes with WomenShine to talk about her journey, interests and challenges.

A bubbly Delhi girl and creative actress has a lot of stories to tell us about herself. We have also seen her in TV serial Dhoom Machaoo Dhoom and movies like Ujda Chaman, Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan, Aamras, No one killed Jessica, and PK.

1. Your style and character is always on point. Where do you get your inspiration from?

For Most characters I think the inspiration comes from the script itself, a character that is well written and in terms of styling of course I actually am very interested in fashion myself so we always have a stylist on board and we usually sit together and come up with a look for the character and because it has to be in line with story and the scenes in particular and you have to can do it from the traits of the character you derive the style also that what kind of a person is she, is she is somebody who would be interested in fashion and would be wearing trendy clothes or is she someone who is very casual about her clothing and doesn’t really pay attention to it and stuff like that so it’s usually in collaborative process but genuinely really enjoy creating the look of the characters so I am usually involved in that is well.

2. What are your last minute preparations when you are about to give an audition?

In terms of auditions actually thankfully I haven’t given auditions in a long time but I think with auditions  I’ve always somehow not really enjoyed the process because it gives me anxiety. But I personally enjoy going to a studio to give auditions as compared to sending an audition on your own or the self-test or something because when you are there in the setup you manage to get immediate feedback, you know the person was taking your audition will tell you immediately what it is that you need to do better or what it is that really works and you should keep. And  there is a general  atmosphere of conducive to giving a better audition, the cues coming better because in a self-test you either ask a friend to help you with cues or you just do  without it so ya I’ve always found the process auditioning very scary and nerve wracking but ya that’s what it is.

3. How was your experience working with Saurabh Shukla in Ujda Chaman?

Unfortunately I didn’t have that many scenes with  Saurabh Shukla Ji in Ujda Chaman but he is damn fun, I really enjoyed it and he is the kind of actor who likes improvising and is really good at it so even the directors usually allow him to do that and give the space to improve and I always look up to actors who are good at improvisation because I somehow find that lacking in my performance but  people like Saurabh Shukla ji or anybody  of that batch they are just so good right? like they get into the skin of the character they know the character inside out which is why they are able to improvise around it also and you can see they enjoy working, they enjoy what they’re doing and I think when the actor or performer is enjoying what they’re doing, it automatically reflects on screen and the audience watching also enjoy the performance and so that something I learnt from Saurav Shukla ji.

4. What was your reaction on belong castes for your first TVF series?

So when my first TVF series was Pitchers and  I was very excited  because I remember why.  I knew about the script and a little bit about the show and I used to find it very exciting because I knew that something I didn’t know the entire script, I didn’t know the entire story but I knew something very exciting is happening because everybody was so into it and it was such a collaborative effort and I felt that this is something. I don’t know if it will work or not but this is great that come out of, I knew that I will enjoy the process, I knew I will enjoy the final product as well of course it turned out to be a superhit that’s a different thing that was a bonus but I genuinely want to be a part of it only because I could see the excitement and enthusiasm in the people who are making it. And TVF  always has you know supported talent and they don’t go after names or faces but after talent you know, so if you find an actor who is talented and fits the bill they will caste them that it doesn’t matter whether their bank fresher or they are season actors but they just support talent and that is something that I have always respected about TVF and I think I’ll continue to do so.

5. How do you respond to rejections in your professional life?

I think now having spent a significant amount of time in the industry I have learnt to deal with rejection. Earlier they would affect me a lot worse you know I would start questioning my own talent, start questioning, you know myself and my choices but now I feel it’s fine. I think because everybody is looking is trying to see what works for them for what works for their story, their web series or their film and obviously nobody’s going to try to make a bad show so everybody tries to make a good show and all the choices are in the direction and it’s fine. I feel, thankfully because of OTT, because of you  know the digital platform there is enough for everybody so it allows less room for insecurity of work but I feel it’s, I mean it can be hard like to constantly get rejections and it does make you feel a little insecure and into on those occasions I think one must continue just tell them that they are certain things that are beyond your control what someone else besides is really not something you can control beyond the point so I  do not worry about it and you just continue doing your work giving your best in every aspect that you didn’t fit and the rest will follow hopefully.

6. What are some tips you can give to women with curves on starting their career as an actress.

I am not very sure of this defining or categorising women with as with girl with and without curves, skinny or  not skinny because I think now we are at a point that we need to start looking beyond it. We can’t still be categorising women as curvy or non curvy or dark skinned of fare short or tall having these are descriptive words and as long as we’re using them only a description that’s fine but the minute we add any sort of connotation or any sort of positive or negative value to it that’s when things South but yes I think everybody should focus on what they bring to the table and I think everybody is unique, everybody is beautiful and their own way, everybody has something different to offer and something unique to offer, and they should focus on that. They should phone their talent whatever that may be that could be acting talent, that will be dancing, that could be you know just styling or something so and in terms of body type. I think everybody should be fit so whether your curvy, whether you are skinny as long as you are at your feet because you know contrary to popular belief acting is a very physical job, you know you have to have high stamina, so you can’t be an unfit person and try to give your best for 12 hour shifts with that we have in acting and sometimes your character requires you to physical stuff. Sometimes you are jumping of things, or your are dancing, you know you are riding something. So they are the skills that require you to be physically fit and I think fitness is something we should focus on that’s about it. So whether what you weigh on the scale doesn’t matter as long as you are a  fit person and I think that’s something every woman, man, child should incorporate.

7. What kind of projects excite you the most?

My most ideal project would be where I love the  character and its a complex character it’s a nuance, the shades of grey, it’s not black Or white and it has a lot of potential for me to show all my talent and all my glory and the people that i work with, the scale of the project everything, I think that would be an ideal project but in terms of project I really enjoy working with very creative people who are collaborative, open to suggestions, who  want it to be a group affair. I want to be collective, enjoy that because that’s what makes the process of making something very exciting for me and that way as an actor you are far more involved in everything and you give your 110%, that’s something I really enjoy in projects where you have stimulating conversation and in terms of character I like the characters that have a lot of layers, I like dramatic stories about human relationships, about human beings in general and just how we react to different things under different circumstances and like I said there is no black or white and I would love to do a sports based film, a dance based film because I am a trained dancer and haven’t been able to showcase yet. So I would love to do a film or a show which is about dance, sports is again something that I really enjoy  and I would love to put myself to training for a particular sports, then do a story around it.  I also have seen a sports which always has very true emotions and there are so many stories , we can explore that.

-By Aditi Gupta