I want to become a bankable actor: Sanya Malhotra

By Natalia Ningthoujam

New Delhi, May 22 (IANS) In the last three years, actress Sanya Malhotra got to ride the waves of success as well as taste failure. The "Dangal" star says though box office collection is not in her hands, she would like to be a bankable actor.

After her impressive debut in 2016 with Aamir Khan-starrer "Dangal", she featured in filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj's "Pataakha", which didn't create a storm at the box office. She then acted in "Badhaai Ho", which was one of the biggest films of 2018. This year didn't start on a great note for her as her film "Photograph" failed to get imprinted on the minds of the audience.

Asked about the ups and downs in her career, Sanya told IANS here: "I am really proud of all the films that I have done so far. I learnt something new about acting. I got to work with amazing people.

"Box office collection is not in my hands, but I am grateful and happy for all those films. Now the audience has online platform, so a film never dies."

Sharing the example of "Pataakha", she said: "Though 'Pataakha' didn't do well at the box office, it really worked on Amazon. A lot of people saw it and a lot of people tell me that they really liked it. That means a lot to me.

"But obviously, in the future I will have to be very careful. I want to become a bankable actor."

She is currently tied up with filmmaker Anurag Basu's next project.

"I am having a lot of fun shooting with Anurag Sir. He is a genius and I have never been so chilled out during shooting. He doesn't like to work with a script, and that's what I am liking.

"Generally, when I am working... if I have script in hand, I go all crazy reading it all the time. I read the script after the shoot or before going on set. I go through it all the time. I feel that I might find something new in it," said Sanya.

That way, working on the untitled film is quite different for her.

"One thing you don't know is what he wants on the set or which scene you are going to shoot when you come to the set in the morning. He just tells us that we are shooting this and we have to say something like this.

"You have to be on your toes and be spontaneous. It's like being a part of a play... doing something impromptu on stage. I am having a lot of fun," she added without giving away much about the film.

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)