Success does not come overnight, in fact, it has years of hard work, dedication, and passion behind it. It applies to each and every field. The entertainment industry has lots of glitz and glamor. However, here also making a career is not easy. You need to sweat and do struggle. The overnight success we see is basically a result of years of dedication, passion, sacrifice, and hard work. Recently, an established actress in Bollywood, Nimrat Kaur spoke about her struggling days in the industry. It was way back in 2004, we have seen a pretty gorgeous girl in the music video of legendary singer Kumar Sanu ‘Tera Mera Pyar‘. She was none other than beautiful Nimrat Kaur.
However, even before getting this music video, Nimrat Kaur has gone through lots of struggle, hard work, and auditions. Talking about her struggling days, Nimrat Kaur shared her family background and how she came to Mumbai. She told,
“I come from an army background and people there don’t really consider acting as a profession. It was such a random, bizarre thought that I didn’t even want to admit to myself. I didn’t have the courage to say it to myself. Plus, I was studying B.Com Hons in Shree Ram College, Delhi University. After that, to be an actor, it was considered a professional suicide. People were like, “Are you nuts? You want to waste that degree.” In the defense background, it’s not even a profession. People frown upon it but there’s no malice. So I gathered a lot of courage to tell my mother I wanted to go to Mumbai and my parents supported me. I gave myself six months and told them if I can’t survive those six months, I’ll come back.”
She added on how she survived in Mumbai,
“It was 2004. There were multiple breakdowns. I had saved up a bit of money from a few odd jobs I did back in Delhi. So it saw me through the first six-seven months. What happened was that I got some photographs but you just don’t know where to go, what to do. Where do you even start?”
Nimrat shared about she started giving auditions and her struggle. She also spoke about how she used to cry for hours in a call with mom. She added,
“Nothing is on the internet and wasn’t easily available. So I used to download names of production houses, agencies. I figured that inko jaake photographs de dete hai aur dekhte hai ki kya hota hai. I gave my pictures to hundreds of agencies and banners; I would go physically. I marked out areas, traveled by trains or buses and autos. I couldn’t afford cabs at that time. Everything was so expensive. Mobile phones, calls were so costly. So I used to go to a PCO and call mom, cry for hours and be so sad about things. It was pretty daunting and scary.”
Talking about her first project, Nimrat said that after giving 85 auditions and screen tests, she finally cracked the one.
“The first-ever job I got was an ad film by Asian Paints which I cracked after giving 85 screen tests. There were times you would do your makeup and you’re sitting in an auto, with water splashed all over your face. There would be days I’d just be crying because it can be too overwhelming for someone who’s just out of college. Then, I used to do these music videos too called Tera Mera Pyaar. That’s what set the ball rolling for me. It got me the rent and the ad films.”
Nimrat recalls how slowly the things start to turn in her favor and she would become the face for several ad campaigns. She said that every aspiring actor who is struggling should be ready to face rejection and sometimes they can be humiliating as well.
“I did a lot of ad films and there, you just don’t get the job. That’s it. I would never feel discouraged because I didn’t get it. I’d rather look at the one who got the ad and try to understand what I can do to better myself. It wasn’t easy. I remember giving 85 auditions because I maintained a diary where I used to write What I did, where did I go and what I had to play.”
She also talks about how things changed after doing the movie The Lunchbox. Nimrat told,
“Sometimes, they would say you don’t look Indian, you look too urban and modern. You don’t look homely at all. We needed someone more homely looking. Then, when I did The Lunchbox, everything just changed. Clearly, that taught me one thing: that what people think you can or cannot do is their limitation and not yours. I was told by my international agency that I was roped in for Homeland in an ISI agent’s role because of my performance as Ila in Lunchbox. So you see, not everyone thinks that way or boxes you in a particular way.”
Today, Nimrat Kaur is one of the most talented and finest actresses in the industry. Whether it was a movie, The Lunchbox, Airlift, or even the web-series The Test Case; the way she performed her role was truly outstanding. She was also seen in Homeland, an American television series. This inspirational story of Nimrat Kaur is proof that overnight success is actually not overnight but it is actually years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifices.
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