Sonnalli Seygall is known for glamorous roles in films like ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2’, ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ and many others. But not many would know that she has been fighting a lonely battle of being stereotyped in such glamorous roles for quite a long time. Not just that, she even has been battling with the adage that’s so popular in the film industry – ‘Models Can’t Act’.
Talking about facing such stereotypes, she says, “Oh yes, I faced it a lot. I had a slightly different sort of problem. We had to audition for any film and there, people could see that I could act, so that was not the problem. For me, the problem was that even after I got my first part in ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’, I was always bracketed in the glamorous parts. So, I had a different sort of challenge. When people saw ‘PKP’, they were like Okay she knows acting but now let's cast her in similar roles. Let's not experiment at all and keep casting her in glamorous roles. So, for my next few films had me playing the glamorous parts.”
“I had to break that stereotype that since I am 5'7", I look a certain way, I have been Miss India and a model, so okay only glamorous part for me. I knew that I could do it, I could do different parts like in ‘Setters’ or ‘Aseq’. I just knew I had to stay on. and someone had to see it,” adds Sonnalli Seygall.
It’s indeed true that stereotype is something that every actor or actress has to go through in his/her career many times. If you do a lot of comedy films, you’re bracketed as a comedy actor. If one of your action films does superlative business, you’re flooded with only action films for the next 5 years. It’s pretty much the way the film industry works. However, big stars like Akshay Kumar or Shah Rukh Khan have always tried to break such stereotypes every now and then and try to come up with something that’s unique and different from their past roles.
For actresses who are popular for glamorous roles, getting called on for doing an item song isn’t far away. However, Sonnalli Seygall has consciously tried to stay away from them and is still waiting for an opportunity that will change filmmakers' as well as the audience’s perception towards her craft.
“Somewhere I am still waiting for that opportunity as I feel I have still not played a de-glam role, but that will happen too. So, I had to break those kinds of stereotypes and make a conscious decision of not getting into only glamorous roles or only item songs. I stayed consciously away from it,” concludes Sonnalli Seygall.
