Yami Gautam says actor roundtables are ‘not a validation for me, that I have arrived’

Yami Gautam, who was recently nominated for Best Actor (Female) for her performance in A Thursday at the Filmfare OTT Awards, spoke up recently why she hasn’t been seen any end-of-the-year roundtables with her colleagues. The actor had two very different films this year with the digital premieres of A Thursday and Dasvi. (Also read: Yami Gautam: It’s human to think ‘mere role ke baare mein bhi baat honi chahiye’)

In Disney+ Hotstar’s A Thursday, she plays a school teacher Naina who holds her young schoolchildren hostage in order to speak to the prime minister. In the Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Dasvi, which premiered on Netflix, she is a jail superintendent who encourages Abhishek’s character to complete his education and pass his board exams.

Speaking to Bollywood Bubble, Yami stated that she was not interested in taking part in any roundtables. She said, “With due respect to everyone, and whoever is inviting, and I have a lot of respect for them; most of us have grown in our careers while being interviewed by them. I’m very fond of everyone, it has nothing to do with the journalists. It’s just to do with the whole system, because now there are so many (roundtables).”

She added, “It’s just like award functions. There are so many. And while I understand that for everybody, you have to create segments, you have to create stories. But for me as an actor, there was a time when I felt that I, too, should have been on the panel, but you’re not invited. Now I’m being invited, but why do I want to contribute to a system where these sort of things, when I’m in a position to voice my choice? That is not a validation for me, that I have arrived. If I’m good at my work, and if the audience likes my work, I will know it.”

Yami, who married filmmaker Aditya Dhar in June 2021, will next be seen in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary’s drama Lost in which she plays a Kolkata journalist. In 2023, she also has the Netflix film Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga with Sunny Kaushal and will also appear in the Akshay Kumar-starrer OMG 2 – Oh My God! 2 which also features Pankaj Tripathi.