Niharika NM recalls rejecting a film due to intimate scenes: ‘Actor didn’t want body double’

The actor-content creator continued, “I definitely wanted to give acting a shot. I didn’t know how far it would go or what I exactly wanted to do. All I knew was that I was passionate about it and I enjoyed it.” But, she soon decided to stop struggling for an offer in Bollywood and started auditioning in South cinema, implying Hindi film industry’s unrealistic beauty standards.

“I tried in Hindi films first but I didn’t enjoy the standards that were set for women – how they should look or how their skin tone should be. I thought that it’s not the space I should fight in. It was also a very crowded space,” she said.

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Later on, Niharika went on to sign a three-film deal with Karthik Subbaraj’s production house, Stone Bench Films. She added, “But midway through my training process with them, I turned down really good South films which did wonders at the box office. I couldn’t believe it! I was bound by contract. That will remain one of my biggest regrets. But I’m happy for whoever did it. And once the contract ended, there was no stopping me. Then I phelo-ed like raita across films of different languages.”

But, that was another difficult path to walk, as she didn’t want to do intimate scenes on-screen. “There were so many reasons why I got rejected from films. It all sounds hilarious at this point. There was one particular film I was supposed to do. It was being made by this great director. I grew up watching him. He handpicked me. I had auditioned for the part. The look test was done.”

She shared, “The contract was sent to my house and I had signed it. There was this intimacy clause in it and I had told them that I’m not comfortable doing onscreen intimacy. They were fine with it and were planning on going ahead with a body double. But the actor wasn’t okay doing the scene with a body double. He wasn’t interested. It was his call. Then it became a situation of this or that.”

About Niharika NM

Niharika NM marked her international debut with a guest voice role in the American sitcom Big Mouth season 7 in 2023. She also made her South debut in the Tamil film Perusu last year, followed by Mithra Mandali and Idhayam Murali.

Her upcoming movie Bhai Tera Star Hai is set to hit the theatres on July 30. Directed by Vivek B Agarwal, the comedy drama also stars Sanjay Kapoor and Nikki Walia.