'Mumbai Diaries 26/11' Actress Natasha Bharadwaj On Facing Rejections: There Were Times I Cried And Locked Myself In A Room

Natasha Bharadwaj is one of the most talented actors who made her OTT debut with MX Original Series 'Pawan & Pooja'. But it was the Amazon Prime Video series 'Mumbai Diaries 26/11' that gave her name and fame. Her role as Dr Diya Parekh got her acclamation. Recently, Natasha played something similar to her real character in Jio Cinema's 'Ishq Next Door'. In an interview with Outlook, the young actress opened up about the show, her character, the support from her family to be in the industry, facing rejections and a lot more. 

Not everyone who aspires to be an actor is lucky to have a supportive family especially when they don't belong to a filmy background. Well, Natasha who always wanted to be an actor is a lucky one. Her family was always supportive of her. She said, "I watched 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' and told my mother that I want to become an actor. She took it very seriously and she has not been only supportive but also very actively involved in the process of me becoming an actor. Be it watching films or world cinema, she has very actively made that choice to educate me on how cinema is and gave me a more open perspective. I am very blessed because I find a lot of young kids who are going through a lot of struggles at home where they have to convince their parents to let them do what they want to do. I was very lucky for not only getting support but my mom made sure I see cinema and what I am getting into. She is a doctor and a lawyer who doesn't know anything about the industry. So, ya, she has really helped me a lot to explore the craft as much as I can".

On what made her say 'yes' to 'Ishq Next Door', Natasha said, "I am always looking for a part that will challenge me as an actor where I can portray something completely different from what I have done before. So, this script happened to come to me and I remember when Akhilesh Vats, the director of 'Ishq Next Door', narrated the script to me, I was like it's such a sweet simple story, it has my heart. This was something that made me go back to the simpler times. That's something that attracted me and I like the story and my character Meher was written. She is sweet, super helpful and aware of what is happening in the colony and she is also super savage. That is something that I found extremely interesting and that's the similarity between Natasha and Meher I think. That was something that made me say yes to the script right away and also the pure passion of creating something as beautiful and simple as the story is."

Natasha is an old-school type when it comes to love and she believes that it's difficult to find true love in today's world be it on dating apps or be it organically meeting people. "It's difficult to find true love anywhere. You might find true love but you might end up being with someone who is completely different and that might be your true love. So, I don't think you can only fall in love once. It's just you end up with who you are meant to be with who is good for you, for your heart, and for your mental health. For me, love is something where I can completely be myself and that's something I look for," she added. 

Like any other newcomer, she also had her own share of struggles but she wants to change the word struggle to hustle. Further adding, Bharadwaj said, "At every step of your life you are going to face hustle. When I was starting out as an actor, those were different hustles. Now I have established myself as an actor, the hustles are different. I think even an Ambani has different kinds of hustles. So, hustles and struggles will always be there. And the reason that this attitude is there in my mind is because my mother always told me not to give up no matter what. She says, 'The moment you think of giving up, you just have to push past that. When you go through the tunnel, you can actually get out of it and see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, not giving up is important".

"But yes, there had been times when I had auditioned a lot. I had given rough figures of like 600-700 auditions. My way of dealing with rejections is giving the audition and forgetting about it. But there are some parts that really inspire me and I am really hoping and looking forward to doing. Like 'Mumbai Diaries' if I didn't do it, I would have felt very bad. Of course, there are other auditions that  I had given and didn't get a callback. I had final talks and it didn't work out. I have gone home and cried and locked myself in a room and dealt with it and have done the same thing. I kept going and going and that's my outlook. Hustle and struggle are worth as long as you have the passion and energy to keep going," she signed off.