The actor Sanya Malhotra talked openly about the difficulties she encountered in her career, such as casting directors’ critical remarks and her mother’s lack of encouragement. Despite her mother taking her to “pandits” who thought she would be better suited for a profession in a bank, Sanya claimed in an interview that she was always gifted with the highest level of confidence and thought she would succeed as an actor or dancer.
In an interview with online sensation Uorfi Javed for her podcast, Sanya talked about how confident she was when it came to her acting career in Mumbai and how she refused to wear cosmetics to auditions. When asked if she had any unpleasant memories from the years, she replied, “I still remember jaw reconstruction.” I thought, “What?”
“They don’t say anything now,” she went on. But I’m aware of my perfection! I have so much confidence that it’s beyond words. Naturally, though, it varies. It throws off especially during periods. I also have endometriosis, and my ovaries contain a cyst. However, I was so self-assured that I used to attend auditions in Mumbai without wearing makeup or hair. I was certain that my acting alone would get me the job. Of course I had a moustache in school. I responded to a youngster who made fun of me by saying, “Well, you don’t have one.” I was certain I would become a heroine even at that young age.
When asked if her parents had given her any criticism, Sanya replied, “They were both quite supportive. My mother insisted that I complete my schooling before anything else. She wished for me to do my post-graduation studies. My father was, to my surprise, more supportive. However, my mother brought me to see at least three pandit jis, all of whom advised against acting and that this wasn’t the right path for me. My mother found out that I will major in economics and work at a bank. That’s not conceivable, I said.
The 2016 movie Dangal, the highest-grossing Indian film ever, marked Sanya’s feature film debut. Since then, she has acted in the highly regarded films Pagglait, Badhaai Ho, Pataakha, and Photograph. She starred in three films in 2023: the biographical Sam Bahadur, the comedy Kathal, and the blockbuster hit Jawan.
