Beyond The Screen: 'To Be A Recognised Actor, Content Creation Doesn't Cut It...': Shibani Bedi On How Bollywood Is A Different Ball Game
Known for her content on Instagram, Shibani says that Bollywood is a different ball game altogether and that she had lots of fun working with all the people in this film.
Content creator and actor Shibani Bedi was recently seen in the Rhea Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor film 'Thank You For Coming' as she essayed the role of Tina Das. Written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh, the film stars Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila and others as well. To know more about the film, ABP Live caught up with Shibani Bedi over a video call, who shared what the film is all about and also talked about her journey from being a content creator to acting.
Known for her content on Instagram, Shibani says that Bollywood is a different ball game altogether and that she had lots of fun working with all the people in this film.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
Can you share what your film 'Thank You For Coming' is about?
The movie is about the protagonist Kanika Kapoor- her life and her relationships with her friends and family. Her mother happens to be a single mom who is not married, and Kanika does not want to be like her. Her goal in life is to find her Prince Charming and get married but through the course, she also realises that while she is dating so aggressively, her needs are not getting fulfilled. And, she decides to compromise and go for an arranged marriage. This is followed by a lot of incidents on the day of her engagement after which she embarks on a journey to figure out certain things. So, it becomes a little bit who dunnit of sorts...
It's basically a coming-of-age story that represents women in their 30s who have still got to do a lot and traverse their journey to find love and acceptance for themselves.
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This film has a number of content creators and influencers we have adored and watched on social media. How was it working when all of you came together?
It was honestly lots of fun. We give them the 'influencers' tag but in the end, we are all performers. Me, Kusha and Dolly are content creators. Shehnaaz has done a lot of non-fiction shows and we have seen her in reality shows as well- so, she is also a content creator in her own capacity. Influencer tag toh waise bhi mujhe samaj nahi aata hai, but I feel like we are all performers who flourished on social media. Humne apne balboote pe apni kala ko project kiya hai duniya mein aur unke acceptance aur pyaar ko jeeta hai. Because, influencer or no influencer, we are all humans and a lot of these girls are really good human beings, non-insecure, really helpful people, including Rhea, Bhumi, Ekta, and the writers. I had a lot of fun working with all of them and I think its because of them that this journey became very wholesome.
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You have done a lot of comedy sketches on social media. So, how was the change from doing comedy to a film of this kind?
We do comedy on social media because that is what works well. The medium on which we make our content, on it if we don't do things that people can relate to, then our growth gets compromised a little. But, honestly all three of us- me, Kusha and Dolly- we don't do just comedy, instead, we use comedy to make our script a bit tight interesting and relatable. But, there are a lot of underlying messages in those videos. We use humour because there are a lot of things which if we tell the audience with a sad or angry face, they might not like it, but the same thing if I tell in a humourous way, the audience will laugh at it and also ask themselves 'ye kya bol gayi'.
I think humour is sometimes used as a crutch, but if I look at our content, we also do sketches. Since its on Insta and all, there is a bit of a time crunch and also we don't have the equipment to do something as huge as a film. So, keeping all these things in mind, the performance aspect keeps changing and all of us try our best to perform well, bring out new characters and to do all this, we have to add a bit of humour as well so that the audience accepts it without any anger or reluctance.
Being a creator, you often have to keep aside and overcome the sad things that go on in your life and continue to tell stories through your content. So, how do you manage it?
I don't really know, it's just that I have gotten used to it now. I also have this thing of laughing at my own tragedies. I don't take life too seriously and when the shock of all the bad things that have happened ceases, then I feel like laughing. I think finding humour in life and moving on is a mechanism that I personally use, and use this as an inspiration in my content as well.
But, if a really sad phase is going on in my life, I take a break at times and give time to myself to heal.
From being a content creator to an actor- how has your journey been to date?
It's been interesting. There are multiple ups and downs in any journey. Content creation came as a by-product of being an actor. I have been doing theatre from a very young age and have done a lot of plays. After that, I couldn't figure out what to do with my talent. Because you don't get much money in theatre, you cannot do it full-time, and films and TV were a huge risk.
I come from a middle-class family where financial security is a big thing. On top of that, I never had a huge self-confidence. I was a chubby girl, so I grew up with many body image issues and self-doubt. I never had that thing in mind that I was the prettiest in my class and I had to be a heroine. All I knew was that I was good at acting since I was trained in it and people appreciated it. I wanted to act, but where and how- I didn't know. Thankfully, when this online boom happened, I started doing web videos along with my plays. I was also working as a journalist for about 8-10 years. Then as the trend of web videos started, I got this platform because of which I could start my journey as a content creator and get recognition.
Over the course, I have done some small roles in movies for the last 5-6 years which did not give me much recognition, but I enjoyed the process. Those were interesting characters. So, I think after all that permutation and combination, it is now when it feels like it is narrowing down and is making sense. So, this feels great and I hope this journey never ends.
I hope this starts a new chapter where I get more interesting work and tell more stories by performing them.
You have done a lot of comedy sketches with Ankush Bahuguna. Do you think that this too has paved your way towards being an actor?
Not really. I have a lot of fun working with Ankush and my creative flow is strong with him. We have been working together for the past 6-7 years. So, I get along with him very well. He is a very dear friend and like a brother I don't have. So, it's very easy to perform with him. The only advantage of these videos that we do is that they are creatively very satisfying and mujhe bohot sukoon milta hai ye banakar. Mai hasti rehti hu saara time. It also gets us a lot of love from the audience which is really validating. Secondly, it also helps me to build credibility and popularity on social media which is also good for my financial status.
But, in terms of acting and recognition in Bollywood, it doesn't really help. I feel like content creation is a different segment. To be a recognised credible actor, I feel you have to be seen doing a certain kind of work, which I think as a content creator doesn't cut it. Any content creator who cracks a role in a film, voh isliye nahi milti hai kyunki aapne bohot achhe reels banayi hai yaa aapke bohot followers hai. Voh aapko milti hai kyunki aapne audition bohot achhe se kiya hai aur moviemakrs ko laga hai ki unke vision mein aap fit ho.
We have to go through the long process of auditioning unless they are using you for some character they know you for. But, for any other role, there are multiple rounds of audition and still, there is no guarantee that you will get that role just because you are famous on Instagram. Bollywood is a different ball game altogether. Your recognition helps you get a call from casting agencies and puts you in the memory of filmmakers and producers, but to get to work with them is a different process altogether. Mere aur Dolly ke kuch saat rounds of auditions and screen tests huye, before we got finalised for Thank You For Coming.
'Thank you For Coming' has hit the theatres on October 6.
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