Sanya Malhotra recalls dad’s suggestion for tragic backstory for reality show: ‘Tell them we beat you up’

Sanya Malhotra, in the past, has talked about being ‘rejected’ on Dance India Dance because she did not have a striking backstory. During a recent appearance on a chat show, she recalled how she even sat with her parents to try and come up with a tragic past but it ‘didn’t work out’.

On Feet Up With The Stars, Sanya said, “You know what, in fact, I have sat with my parents because I saw a lot of my friends who were also a part of the reality show, they were auditioning with me. Aisa kuch ho nahi raha tha unki life mein (There was actually nothing like that going on in their lives) but they were really good at making up stories. So I remember, one day I sat with my parents and I was like, ‘Kya ho sakta hai (What can my backstory be)?’”

“Papa kehte hai, ‘Bol do tumhe hum bohot maarte hai, dance karne nahi dete, tum sadak pe jaa ke karti ho practice’ (My father suggested that I say that my parents were unsupportive of my dance, would beat me up and I had to go to the streets to practice). But obviously, it didn’t work out. Aisa lag nahi raha tha ki jaa ke bolungi toh main khud ko bhi convince kar paungi. Toh baaki logon ko kaise karungi ki (It sounded so unconvincing to me so how could I convince others) that actually happened,” she added.

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Sanya then went to her parents and told them that she wanted to be an actor instead of a dancer and began auditioning in Mumbai. She landed several advertisements and eventually made her debut with Dangal in 2016. She has since appeared in films such as Pataakha, Badhaai Ho, Ludo and Pagglait.

Earlier, Sanya told Humans of Bombay that she reached the top 100 contestants of Dance India Dance but could not go beyond that because her ‘backstory wasn’t strong enough’.