In a career spanning nearly a decade, Yami Gautam has been a part of acclaimed films like Vicky Donor, Badlapur, Uri: The Surgical Strike, and Bala. Her transition from daily soaps to films has inspired many TV stars to pursue their Bollywood dreams. But for someone who has no connection in the film industry, it wasn’t an easy journey for Yami.
“You always have to hustle,” says Yami. “The form of that hustling will change. Five years back, there was a hustle for another reason, now there’s a hustle for another reason. Now I’m more aware of what I want to do, who I am, what potential I have, and what I can give to a film.
“I know there’s still so much more that I have to learn and attempt for the first time and I’m excited about it and it will always be a hustle and I’ll always have to prove myself again and again with every film. I would love to be surprised by different roles, scripts and filmmakers whose aim is not to just make a project but engage people and take them to another world and make you forget everything. I always want to see the bigger picture and want to be a part of films that take your craft 10 times ahead in life,” Yami adds.
Yami, who is currently garnering praises for her recently released movie ‘A Thursday’, further talks about how her casting in Bala and Uri: The Surgical Strike convinced the makers that she was more than just a pretty face. In ‘A Thursday,’ Yami plays a school teacher named Naina Jaiswal, who takes 16 toddlers as hostages. The thriller is directed by Behzad Khambata and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Premnath Rajagopalan. Yami, who is known for her infectious smile, was thrilled when she was approached for the role of a maniac kidnapper.
“I never questioned Behzad why he thought of me. In your head, you always think why not me? I don’t see myself the way perhaps you see me. It doesn’t matter to me what my personality or appearance comes across. For me, that should be regardless of what work I do on the screen which has precisely been one of my challenges throughout my career.
“I have been looking for path-breaking roles. I started my career with a path-breaking script but things take time to warm up. You also take time to understand this place, how to maneuver your way, and then give voice to your choices. Then came 2019 and reverse casting with Bala and Uri really shifted things. So when Baizad cast me and approached me for A Thursday, I was so happy that he came to me because this was one of the best scripts that I read in a long time,” says Yami.
Talking about her role in the movie, Yami says, “It was much more challenging than I thought it would be. That’s what I figured when I reached the set and started shooting the film. By that time I started feeling a heaviness physically and I realised it was not out of any health issue. It was because Naina’s weight was on me. I really felt that I completely soaked into who she was and why she was doing it and what her journey was. It wasn’t an easy one. It’s a story that needed a lot of homework and a lot of depth. I think somewhere in my mind I knew how Naina would be because I was constantly trying to shape up a character in my mind.”
What are you most looking forward to next in life? Yami, who tied the knot with director Aditya Dhar last year, says, “I’m just taking one day at a time and seeing where life takes me. There’s much more to life than films. You need to focus on those things as well. You also gotta grow as a person and for that, you need to think outside this life and have a life outside.”
