Aahana Kumra: If I don’t play the role of a mother now, will I do it in 80 years? Audition has become a joke in the country

Aahana Kumra, who has been active in Hindi cinema for one and a half decade, has neither become a part of any group in the industry nor does she want to be. She values ​​patience and enjoys its sweet fruits after a short wait. Recently, Ahana came to Lucknow, where she openly told us about the disadvantages of being an outsider in the industry, from auditions, groups, comedy.

If not now, will I play the role of a mother in 80 years?

I did not work for two years in between but then shot for a month in Dehradun with Rajat Kapoor and Purab Kohli. This film has been made keeping in mind today’s parents and children. Nowadays, many differences are seen between parents. In such a situation, a six-seven year old child keeps getting crushed in their bickering. Well, nowadays divorces have also become very normal. I hear that the divorce took place within six months, whereas the marriage involved so much expense. This is a film that will show marriage from a child’s point of view. In this, I am playing the role of mother and Purab is playing the role of father, while Rajat Kapoor will be seen playing the role of my father. I am not afraid of playing the role of a mother. If I don’t play the role of a mother now, will I do it in 80 years? Today’s heroines do not want to get trapped in such stereotypical roles. I always look at the role and try to do something new in it. I had never played the role of a mother. I liked the story and cast so I was ready immediately. Apart from this, I am also doing an action series.

The more patience we have, the sweeter the fruit.

In the film industry, people only try to get work for their children. Anyway, which is the field where there is no nepotism? In our profession it is difficult to get work for the first time. Especially, for girls. By the time I start getting work for the first time, 10 years have passed. Today’s times are such that photographs of children of prominent people are published in big magazines, whereas it takes 10-15 years for outsiders like us to reach them. Take any actor you want like Jaideep Ahlawat, Gulshan Devaiah or Vijay Verma. How much one has to tighten one’s belt, how much effort one has to put in. It is more difficult for women here because roles are not written for them. Even the few good roles that are written are given to someone’s daughter, someone’s niece or a relative of the producer. It is difficult because I did not work for two years. I remained sitting at home. People said to take up any work. I said why should I pick it up? It’s my wish, I won’t do it. I have done good work till now, I will do good work in future too. I don’t mind waiting. In fact, the waiting game is made for artists only. The more patience you have here, the sweeter will be the fruit. Now the fruits of patience are getting sweet.

I am not and will never be a part of any group.

I was neither there before, nor am I now, nor will I be a part of any group in the future. Everyone thinks that you will go to parties of big people, socialize with them, have dinner, but I don’t have time for all this. I am running from morning till evening. I did a travel show. Whatever work I did not do in between, I just toured the whole of India. It was a lot of fun to visit India because there is no other country like ours. How different are South and North? There is new culture, new culture everywhere. Food also varies according to place. I have traveled all over the world but the hospitality that is there in India is not like that anywhere else. During the travel show, I got a chance to meet new people and hear new stories. I only traveled for about a year.

People think heroines aren’t funny

It is easy to make the audience cry but difficult to make the audience laugh. When I did ‘Sandwich Forever’, I had Atul Kulkarni in my team, who had never been offered comedy. I consider myself lucky that I got a good comedy show. In fact, such shows are not easy to come by. People think that girls are not funny, especially heroines. Still, we have to know that there are many people who can do comedy. Atul was emotional when we did ‘Sandwich’. he/she said, ‘Hey man, no one gives me comedy roles. I used to say, ‘Nobody gives me such roles either. The story of both of us is the same. We formed a lovely group of Zakir Bhai, Divya Sethe, Atul, Kunal, writer Bharat Kukreja and Pankaj Sudhir Mishra. Now we just call each other Sandwich. We shot it during Covid and people saw it only during Covid.

I am an actor, not a leader

Long ago a party in Muzaffarnagar was giving me tickets. I burst out laughing. At first I thought it was a joke. Then he/she said seriously that we really want to give you the ticket. I said why are you giving it to me? I am an actor, not a leader. Will join when we have time, but not right now. My mother is in the police. In our house there is talk of politics all day long. We only watch news and politics. These are the debates that go on in our house.

Will take audition, lock big actress

At present, the round of auditions is no longer going on but one has to give for big films. They will take us for audition and lock it with some big actress. They audition just to fill numbers. I think auditions have become a joke in this country now. Recently I went to Los Angeles for 24 hours. There is a big show called Suits, which is getting a spin off. The creator there, after seeing my show, called my agent and asked her to call him/her here. I was in the middle of a drama and went there during a four-day leave. There the creator, executive producer and casting director took my audition. Here some casting assistant will take the audition and then will not even tell you whether the selection is happening or not. You will follow up 10 times. Here casting directors don’t even meet you. Casting assistants don’t respond to you. We have to tell him/her that brother, we have also done some work. I don’t like the way actors are treated here. In fact, there is plenty of supply here. Nowadays, influencers get more acting jobs and actors sit at home.