Sobhita Dhulipala says she was told she wasn’t ‘gori, pretty enough’ when she started her career: ‘Realised their idea of beauty was narrow’

On the streaming front, the actor got a breakthrough with the Prime Video series Made in Heaven, followed by the Disney Plus Hotstar show The Night Manager. In an interview with indianexpress.com, Sobhita said she received unfavorable comments during her advertising days, when she had not even stepped into the world of movies.

“When you are starting out, everything is a battle. I am not from the movies. I remember in my ad auditions I was told many times that I am not ‘gori’ (fair) enough. There were these things which you see at ad level, where I was told to my face that I am not pretty enough. Not that I was (dejected).”

 

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The actor said she realized that people’s idea of what makes one “pretty” was “narrow and of a certain kind.” Sobhita said she instead started brainstorming of ways to be more “creative” and have her way despite what people thought of her looks.

“I started thinking how I can be creative, still be a part of this industry because I am really passionate about it and work for it every single day. That’s when you start thinking out of the box, instead of waiting for a brilliant successful commercial filmmaker to ‘discover’ you. What is in my control is to go for auditions, give my 100 percent.”

Sobhita said when she did land Raman Raghav, she was thrilled to collaborated with Anurag Kashyap for the project, which turned out to be her “school”. When asked how did she manage to remain unfazed despite comments about her, which could have damaged a newcomer’s self-esteem, Sobhita said she was always clear she wanted to enter the industry to be an actor and not a star.

“When you really love acting, you won’t be worried about this, because you will act. But if your goal is to be a star and work backwards, that what are the different ways where I can be a star, then you will be stressed, that, ‘Ok, a star should be these things.’ But I don’t find myself in that lane.

“Of course, I would love to be celebrated, because what is art without spectators? But on days when I am not feeling very secure, I remind myself that I have come a long way, from the coast of Visakhapatnam and it has been great so far and there is so much more that I want to do,” she added.

Sobhita will be next seen in The Night Manager season two, which also stars Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur. The show will premiere on June 30.