SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, June 3: Ranchi girl Saumya Sahay is set to rock the world of showbiz with her talent. She will soon be seen in Guru Sharma’s ‘The Buk’, also starring Vikas Verma and Raj Rao.
Born in Patna and raised in Ranchi, Saumya says she never had such an atmosphere at home which would have led her to the place she is at today. Although she is thankful that her parents taught her Kathak, for she believes that Kathak initially introduced her to the performing arts.
She completed her 10th from DAV Kapildev, did engineering from Bangalore and then MBA. Here are excerpts of the conversation lagatar24.com correspondent had with her.
Q. Did you always dream of getting into showbiz? When did you first fall in love with the idea of it all?
A. Maybe, although I never thought of it this way. As a child, I was into getting dressed and being fashionable. However, I’d never thought of going into acting.
I got my first taste of performing for an audience when my parents got me into Kathak at a young age, and maybe there I fell in love with the world of performing arts. The rush of it all and the applause were a high, though even after school and then college, I had not thought that I’d be acting.
In fact, I have an engineering and then management background. I was working with a company in Bangalore as a marketing executive and then shifted to Dubai afterwards with my husband and was a marketing manager in a firm here as well.
Q. How did you get an opportunity to enter the field of acting?
A. So, after my second baby, I took a sabbatical from work, mostly because my husband needs to travel a lot for work and I wanted either one of us there for my baby then. Though I soon quit my job and after my baby turned one, I realized that even though I don’t want to stay home, I also didn’t want to go back to marketing, as it would keep me on the field most of the time. I wanted to do something else.
Around that time, last year in July someone sent me a flyer that someone was looking to cast a 22-year-old in a play and that Anu Kapoor was a part of it. I was 32 then, and though I did not have a shot because I was nowhere close to what they wanted for the character.
Even then, with my husband’s tremendous support I auditioned. I was a skeptic initially because I had never done any acting, though I knew how to express emotions on stage because of my background in Kathak. Thankfully, I was selected, and the rest is history.
Q. How was the experience of theatre? What did sharing a stage with Annu Kapoor feel like?
A. It was magical for me. Not just the experience of working with Annu Ji, but the overall experience. Even after the curtain fell, I still miss the time that we spent there.
I remember, I’d just won the title of Mrs International Queen Dubai, and the very next day I was supposed to report for practicing with Annu Ji for the play. He had already arrived, so I was in a rush. In fact, I am yet to celebrate my win in the competition.
We were with Annu Ji for seven days and I think they were the best days of my life. I got to see a legend in action, and I was mesmerized. We would even have conversations, mostly one-sided because when he speaks, you don’t want to talk when he’s talking, all you want to do is listen.
And listening to him talk about his ideas on acting, films and even life for that matter is so overwhelming that we would be lost. And even though the practice for the show was tough, we’d still be able to glide through it because of Annu Ji.
Q. You also did a music video before the play was staged. How did that happen?
A. The play was supposed to be staged in November 2021, and it would have been my stepping stone in the world of acting. But due to Covid, we had to push the dates and it was ultimately staged in May 2022. Meanwhile, I somehow landed an opportunity for a music video with T Series. I interviewed with a firm called ICatchManagement, who set up the audition for the video and I surprisingly got it.
I did the video with Honey Pawa, he is a very famous singer in Punjab. Even though the play was supposed to be my first work, the video for the song was shot before the play was staged and will be released next month.
Q. Tell me about the film that you did recently.
A. So, ICatchManagement approached me once again for the film. I was to be cast as the wife of Vikaas Sharma. I think they liked my work in the video and approached me for the film. We finished the shoot in April this year, and the movie is scheduled to release in a few months.
Q. What of the future now?
A. I am very hopeful for the future. I already have a few offers for films in line. I hope things go well. Thankfully, I have a great family, with a supportive husband and in-laws, who have offered me all the support as I pursue my career here.
