Divya Agarwal says reality show background made it difficult to convince people that she could act

Divya Agarwal has worked hard to move from being a social media influencer and reality show personality to an actor. Her appearances on web series like Raagini MMS: Returns 2 and Cartel have been appreciated by fans. So it’s ironic that in her next show – Abhay – she actually plays a social media influencer. But this one is with a dark streak. In the show’s third season, Divya plays Harleen, an influencer who moonlights as a killer. In an interaction with Hindustan Times, Divya talks about playing ‘herself’ on the show and how it scared her. (Also read: Abhay season 3 trailer: Kunal Kemmu’s supercop returns to hunt down dark, twisted killers, viewers in awe of Vijay Raaz)

The actor shares that she was ecstatic about doing Abhay as the show checked all the boxes in her wishlist. She elaborates, “When I was offered Abhay, I was on cloud nine. This is one of those projects in my life where I see everything clicking at the right place. Good co-actor, good director, good platform, good main lead, everything yes. This was that one package I was waiting for in my life.”

But while playing Harleen she found that the similarities between herself and the character made things difficult for her, particularly since the character has a dark side. Divya says, “Whatever characters I have played in my life, they have all been very not-me. But here, with this character in Abhay, Harleen is partially like me. That good side you see on social media as an influencer is an exact replica of Divya Agarwal. But she has a dark side. And I think what if people start thinking Divya Agarwal has a dark side. I just wish that people never compare Divya and Harleen. I would be sh***ing bricks if that happens.” In fact, Divya found that at times, she was unable to channel that inner darkness as she could relate to half the character very strongly. “There are a few instances in the show that you will see where it was hard for me to say my lines because I felt she was partially me. It was really hard-hitting for me,” she says.

Over the years, as she has graduated from Splitsvilla to Bigg Boss OTT and now web series, Divya has found that media and fan focus has shifted from her personal life to her work on screen. When asked if she finds that refreshing, she says, “Honestly, yes and I love to encourage that. For me, work is first. What I am today is because of my work today. Call me workaholic but I love it when there’s a flight at 4am and you have to shoot for 12 hours and there is another set the next day. It’s the drill that I enjoy and rush that I want in my life. That’s what motivates me.”

But coming from a reality show background, it wasn’t easy for Divya to convince people that she could act. She recounts, “It was very difficult for me to make people believe that I’m not just reality shows. I can pull this off. Luckily, things also aligned in a way that people also started believing that. But the good thing is that people know my name.”

Also read: Kunal Kemmu recalls when Inaaya Naumi Kemmu saw a poster of his show Abhay: ‘Why is daddy so angry’

The third season of Abhay premieres on April 8, 2022 on Zee5. The series, directed by Ken Ghosh, stars Kunal Kemmu in the lead, along with Vijay Raaz, Asha Negi, Rahul Dev, Tanuj Virwani, Vidya Malavade, Nidhi Singh, and Divya.