Prachi Desai on fighting image battle, being told to only do ‘big films with big actors’: ‘Doing something pathbreaking was never consideration’

It was a dream debut for Prachi Desai, who was merely 19 when the film happened to her. The actor tells Indianexpress.com that at such a young age, she was naturally flooded with all kinds of advice, but it was important to filter out the nuggets from the noise.

“There is always a chatter around you, so it is very difficult to filter all of that, to still try and do what your inner calling is. Up to a large extent, I have managed to filter all of that. But in the beginning, this wasn’t the case. I come from a very simple background; I had no idea how the film world functioned. At that time I was probably seeking some good guidance.

“At that time, I had some very wise things said to me by the people who I was working with. But I was too young, just 19. In the first few years of my working in the film industry, a certain kind of films were being made. For some reason, the discussion was how one must do only big films, be paired with big actors. It was the only thing that people ever discussed. Doing something pathbreaking, out of the box was never a consideration,” she added.

 

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After Rock On, Prachi Desai appeared in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai co-starring Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi, which was a box office hit. While she was making her way through the industry with people emphasising that going big was the only way home, another actor, Vidya Balan, was marching on her beats.

“Then I saw her do a Paa, Ishqiya, Dirty Picture and I was moved. That’s the kind of work you see and get inspired. When you see women with agency, they make you feel something, make you proud as a woman. Or look at what Tabu mam has been doing, her choices… In my head, it didn’t make sense to be always doing big films with big actors, I don’t even know what the definition of that was. Over the years, I am just glad that the audience started to support actors in whatever they wanted to do,” she said.

Prachi’s image of the sweet girl next door was also something that was visible even in the films she did. Except for what became as an image-breaker song “Awari” from Ek Villain, makers rarely cast Prachi in roles which defied her image.

“For sure that’s a battle,” Prachi said, explaining how there is an image that “catches on” with actors. “You don’t want to fight the love that you are getting from people but then you have to think how to have a natural progression from there. If there is a way to show your versatility without fighting what you are loved for. In my little way, I tried to do varied genres, like Rock On or Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. But I never planned to do anything in your face… Even Awari happened organically, nothing was by design or force.

“See, there is only so much you can do, because it is the director and the writers, about how far their imagination goes. You can audition for certain parts, do a look test but at the end of the day, they have to be open for that, but most of them are not. I fully respect whatever thought process they are coming from, they have reasons f0r that. But thank God for OTT today, where so many actors are doing different things. We didn’t have that much to experiment with on the big screen.”

The actor recently made her long format streaming debut with the Naga Chaitanya headlined series Dhootha. The Prime Video series satiated her hunger to experiment.

“All of us, when we do a certain job well, people keep continuing to like us for that so you see versions of that. Not absolute repetition, but you basically do versions of what you are most loved for. There is no problem in that, it can be your USP. But a few years ago, maybe I was looking for a twist in the character, something to give those roles and edge. In these last few years, thanks to OTT, I have been able to get those roles,” she added.