From starting her Bollywood journey with A-listers like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Shahid Kapoor in Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met, to expanding her trajectory into Punjabi, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil films, Wamiqa Gabbi has captured the eye of many talent hunters. Fast forward to the era of OTT and she has made a name for herself yet again with social drama Grahan and the bone-chilling thriller Mai. She was recently noticed in Kabir Khan’s 83. Her latest collaboration is with ace filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, who has directed her in one of the six stories in the Modern Love anthology, Mumbai Dragons. She is working with him in Khufiya, where she will share screen space with Ali Fazal and Tabu. Excerpts from an engaging interview with the actress.
1. It’s been a long journey from Jab We Met to 83.
Whatever I did back then was a lot of fun. I didn’t think I’d do all these things after Jab We Met. All those aspirations came later. Before that, it was like, “Wow, I’m on a set!” It was so exciting for me to see Imtiaz Ali explaining the scenes to Kareena Kapoor or Shahid Kapoor. I was in 8th grade when I shot. I have been lucky, you know. I was told many horror stories about women and men coming to Mumbai wanting to be actors and spending their whole lives here and not achieving anything. 83 was from the time in 2019 when I was almost convinced that this was not going to work out and that I should just do whatever came my way. I was trying to go about my career in a planned manner. When 83 came, I was excited because it was directed by Kabir Khan. I had a small part, but it was just the story that we were trying to tell. And that was something that I wanted to be a part of. I just said yes, but I didn’t know that I was going to be noticed like that. And it’s just been an overwhelming journey after that because Grahan happened, and it’s been great thus far.
2. How do you juggle between your Punjabi projects, South films, Bollywood and OTT projects.
My first film was a Hindi film called Sixteen. After that, I started doing Punjabi films. I don’t know why I didn’t continue in Hindi at that time, maybe because I thought that if you do one film, more will follow. It doesn't work like that. There’s a lot that goes behind it: the marketing, the agencies, the connections, the social circle. In my head, it was nice. I thought I'd done one Hindi film and people were appreciating it, so producers would now start calling me. That didn’t happen. Then my journey into Punjabi films started. I was doing everything for experience; I just wanted to be in front of the camera. It was my hunger to do something different, to do something better that led me to south films. I felt that I was not learning enough in my life.
3. Grahan was a very well-made show about the 1984 Sikh riots. And your role was pretty demanding. How did you prepare for it?
Grahan was one of the best experiences of my life, all thanks to Ranjan Chandel, our director. I was so glad that after the pandemic, I was part of Grahan and I was able to play a character like Manu. Grahan and Manu’s characters gave me an escape to another world. I realised that I didn’t really need to prepare for Manu, like I don’t have to learn new things. Instead, I need to unlearn a few things because she is so innocent. She lives in the moment so much. She doesn't have a lot of ambition; she is a simple girl. She likes films, always listens to Bollywood music and just enjoys her life. She doesn't have a lot of stress. So I had to unlearn a lot and just be this carefree person. Playing Manu gave me a lot of peace.
4. Grahan and Modern Love were two different shows.
In Grahan, I fell in love with the love story. I remember meeting Ranjan Chandel in his office. He had that book, Chaurasi. He was just reading a few paragraphs from it about the love story, and I had tears in my eyes. And I so badly wanted to be Manu. A lot of people calculate a lot before starting a project. For me, it's all about the story and the character of the director. That’s why I always try to meet the director and get a narration from him. If that meeting touches my heart, I am all in. On the other hand, I was already shooting Vishal sir’s Khufiya, and during that he told me about Modern Love. I liked the idea, and I loved the team. Why would I miss the chance to work with Vishal sir?
5. Your screen time is limited in Mai, where you play a specially-abled character. Does that affect you?
I have done a lot of Punjabi and South Indian films where I have got screen time, which means I have got the chance to be on screen. I was hungry for different kinds of characters. I was hungry to be a different person. I felt that I was not really playing characters that challenged me. I did this Malayalam film called Godha that I was excited about. I am so glad that I did that film, which was a super hit in Kerala. It was a challenging character, but after that, I was not getting challenging characters. In Mai, my character made me feel like it was different. Supriya was challenging, and I knew that this character would take a
lot from me.
6. Your next is Vikramaditya Motwane’s period drama Jubilee, where you’ll again be seen with an ensemble cast including Aparshakti Khurrana, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Prosenjit Chatterjee. How did that opportunity come your way?
I was rejected for it at first. I auditioned for it, did a screen test too. Then they told me, “Sorry, you have to release your dates. Maybe we’ll work some other time.” I thought my audition had been great, so what could have gone wrong? But I have been rejected many times, so I just shrugged. This was before the pandemic.
They called me in December 2020.
I remember messaging Vikram sir generally in November just to catch up. I thought then, ‘Ab tak toh ban gayi hoga, maybe editing is half done, shoot is done.’ Two days later, I got a call saying that I was locked in for Jubilee and that I had a meeting with Vikram sir the next day.
7. You’ve worked with some A-listers from all domains, be it a powerful actor like Sakshi Tanwar, then an ensemble cast in 83, Pavan Malhotra in Grahan. How fulfilling has the experience been?
I consider myself lucky to have worked with people who have so much experience. By being around them, you automatically learn a lot of things. Just having this one conversation with Sakshi Tanwar ma’am has really helped me in my personal life. It’s overwhelming that I get to work with such nice people. Naseeruddin Shah in Modern Love or even Yeo Yann Yann. She is an amazing actor. In Khufiya, I am working with Tabu and Ali Fazal, and there is this really cute kid who is also in the film, whose name is Swastik. I learnt so much from that kid. When I say I learnt it’s the small things they would do. You can be more humble, you can be nicer. The world does need more nice people.
8. What are the kinds of roles you see yourself doing more of, and what other genres do you want to probably explore?
I want to be a part of some kind of a fantasy story, basically, where I am flying and getting killed
in a very fancy manner. I would love to experience and create some magic. I would love to see myself doing something extraordinary like that.
9. What is your take on the eternal comparison these days between OTT and the big screen, considering you’ve done both?
OTT is actually helping cinema. Like, if by chance a film is not working, you sell it to OTT, right? It works there because then you get a wider audience. We're all artistes, all creative people trying to make good content and good cinema for the people. All these streams and media should help each other grow. When I shifted to Mumbai eight years ago, there was only film or TV. And it was difficult because the films had their own zones with big directors and they had their own setup with the people that they knew. Now, everybody is getting a chance to audition. Everyone is getting a chance to showcase their talents. So what’s the debate about?
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