#HTCityCheers23 | Yami Gautam on beginning her Hindi film career at 23: I was nervous, had a thousand questions

Yami Gautam was all of 23 when she decided to enter an industry as tough and unpredictable as Bollywood. And with her very debut film, Vicky Donor (2012), she achieved critical and commercial acclaim. However, Gautam admits she had her share of fears before it all happened.

Ask her how was it like stepping into an unknown territory, and she recalls, “When I came to the city, I was, of course, nervous and had a thousand questions. But, I wasn’t fearful of saying no to anything. I only did what I felt I should do, want to do or need to do and not because I’m being told what to do. Despite venturing into unknown territory, I wasn’t scared. It all comes down to being yourself, being fearless about your choices, and just going for it …that helped me rediscover myself and led to a lot of good things.”

The actor recently completed 10 years in Hindi films. Her choice to debut with a quirky subject like sperm donation must have come with some apprehensions. However, Gautam, who played the role of an independent Bengali girl who falls in love with a Punjabi guy (played by Ayushmann Khurrana), says, “It’s a character that took a lot from me but also helped me take myself notches higher than what I expected from myself as a performer.”

What were the kind of films coming her way before this Shoojit Sircar-directed film happened? She shares, “Before Vicky Donor and even after Kaabil, I still had a lot of films that had stereotypical women characters. It was in 2019 starting with Uri and then films like A Thursday and my latest, Dasvi, that I had scripts that instantly made me say yes. These films gave me the opportunity to think beyond the ‘damsel in distress’ roles or roles that were all about appearances.”