Namita Dubey EXCLUSIVE: Gave up eating and drinking due to pressure to look slim

I was afraid of eating lest I get fat

Namita says, when I came into the industry, I used to go for auditions for ads and shows, everything because I thought that my face was generic and I would fit into everything, so I gave a lot of auditions. But when I used to see that every other girl was so beautiful, well trained and doing good acting, I used to get very discouraged that I would never be selected among them. Then I didn’t even get work. Stay at home for months. Sometimes got some ad like lucky draw. Then I started doing episodic shows, but when I did not get stability even after 3 years, I did TV shows, but there was also the pressure that hey, I am about to turn 25 and I have not done anything yet. That age pressure, which perhaps I had created myself. I used to think that I should go to the gym and become thin, so from 2017 to 2020, I had become so thin that everyone used to say, Namita, please eat something. I was afraid to eat. My food psychology had changed. Whenever I ate something, I used to regret that hey, I have to go to an audition tomorrow. I used to suffer from acne, so these fake beauty standards had a very bad effect on me. Only now have I understood that looks are not everything to become an actor. You can become an actor even with your shortcomings and now I have become comfortable with who I am. Now I know that behind the heroines who look so beautiful, there is a lot of hard work done by hair, make-up, stylist etc.

Price of flour and pulses found out in Mumbai

Namita’s character in the film Jhansi Ka Rajkumar starts a new life from Delhi in Jhansi. Namita herself came from Lucknow and made her mark in Mumbai. How challenging was this journey? On this she said, I had gone to Delhi before Lucknow and then came to Mumbai. In Delhi, I used to have a PG or paying guest life, which had a curfew that I couldn’t do this after 8 o’clock, couldn’t go here. The real taste of life was found in Mumbai only. Here I really got to know the value of flour and pulses. I myself am from a middle class family, so here I had to learn a lot about how to run a house. We did not have that much money, so we always had to think about saving money and from where to save it. Even while watching a movie, one has to think that so much money will be spent. Clothes were required for the audition, it was difficult to manage all that. In such a situation, you are trying to become an actor and your family members are asking what are you doing? So, my twenties were spent in understanding what is life? What do I want in life? What can I do? And I learned all this in Mumbai, so I give credit to this city for what I am today, but there are challenges in starting life in a new city. You have to build life anew.

Now is a good time for heroines

How did Namita get interested in acting in the streets of Lucknow? On this question she says, actually, I had this hobby since childhood, but at that time I thought that either girls from beauty contests become actresses or those from film families, so I did not think about it then. Later, I came to know from a friend that there are proper auditions for this, so when I was doing my Masters in Mumbai, I thought, let’s try acting for a year. Then I sent photos in the company of Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar and I got calls from everywhere. I thought that now I will become his/her heroine directly. I too was so innocent (laughs). This is how the process of auditions started. However, I am happy that I have come into the industry in this period, which is very good for girls. Otherwise, the cinema that was being made in the 90s and 2000s, which I grew up watching, were very strange misogynistic films. The roles of girls were not even written. Take any girl, put 4 songs and the dream sequence. Now scripts are being written for girls. There are actresses like Shefali Shah, Tilottama Shome, Rasika Duggal who are making cinema stronger and I hope this situation will get better.