Yami Gautam recalls being mocked for length of Kaabil role, compares Bollywood unfavourably to Hollywood: ‘There, actors…’

Yami Gautam is known to speak her mind about the issues that bother her about the film industry, and now, the actor has opened up about how some people, mostly journalists, had mocked her for doing a “small role” in Hrithik Roshan‘s Kaabil (2017). She also compared Bollywood with Hollywood, and said that in the West, the length of a role does not matter. “People tend to make a big deal of such things in India,” she said.

In Kaabil, Yami played Supriya, the wife of Hrithik’s character Rohan Bhatnagar. Talking to Galatta Plus, Yami recalled, “I was called out sometimes, ki acha inka toh cameo hai ya chota role hain (I was called out and was told that I had a cameo or a small role in the film). Kaabil, I think that’s another film that I am so glad, that I got to be a part of that film… The audience loved it. And now, when journalists interact with me, they’re like, ‘You were so good in that film’. But, I say, ‘No, but that’s not what you wrote back then’.”

Yami then pointed to the West, and said that even the biggest stars in Hollywood sometimes do small roles. “I think it’s one of the few times when we should look at the West. Waha pe bade se bade actors (There, even the biggest stars), don’t shy away from doing roles and working with directors if they want to. They don’t care. They just come and do something amazing and leave. Here, we make it such a big deal,” she added.

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Yami, who made her Bollywood debut opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in Vicky Donor (2012), said that along with films like Kaabil, Uri and Bala remain important in her filmography.

Yami had quite an eventful 2022; she appeared in the films A Thursday and Dasvi. She’s now looking forward to Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary’s Lost, in which she plays a Kolkata-based journalist, and Netflix film Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga, with Sunny Kaushal. She will also be seen in OMG 2 with Akshay Kumar. The film is a sequel to his 2012 hit.