Her passion makes her cross boundaries

Priya Banerjee, who is a Canada resident, makes her way to India leaving her family and following her passion says that her decision to go for acting profession is a destiny. The actress plays the role of Mandira, seductive celebrity who messes relationship of Rana Naidu in the lastest webseries - Rana Naidu. She shares her journey to the Hans India. Let’s have a look into it.

What made you decide to go for the acting profession?

I would say destiny. It was never really a part of my plan to shift my base to Mumbai. I’ve always been extremely passionate about performing arts since childhood. Acting, singing and dancing were a part of my life, so it didn’t quite surprise my family or friends when I decided to pursue acting as a profession.

How did you get the opportunity to act in films?

I had come down to do an acting course at Anupam Kher’s ‘Actor Prepares’ and ended up randomly auditioning for a Telugu movie with no hopes of getting it at all as it was my first ever audition! But I guess life had something else in plan for me and I got locked as the lead and ended up moving to India permanently.

Did you face any challenges while acting in Telugu’s debut film ‘Kiss’ and ‘Ula?’

Yes, absolutely. There were lots of challenges especially with the language.

Both Telugu and Tamil were very new to me and I remember breaking down in my room a few times while I was shooting for my first Telugu film ‘Kiss.’ I was in every scene and I had paragraphs of lines to learn and it wasn’t easy. But well I did it and fell in love with the process.

How was your experience during your first audition and film ‘Kiss?’

As I said it was out of nowhere, I decided to audition for it with absolutely no hope of getting the part. But I guess they saw something in me and I’m thankful they did and it all worked out. Or else I wouldn’t be here today.

What kind of roles do you like to act? Do you want to act in female centric films?

Female-centric films, It’s such a great time for all actresses I feel as a lot of scripts are written around female protagonists. Age doesn’t matter anymore, if you’re talented and hard-working. Women have great opportunities today compared to before. It’s extremely motivating to see all these talented women carving the path for the upcoming female actors.

How is your experience while sharing your screen with lead actors Rana and Venkatesh?

Oh, it was a dream come true working with such an amazing team. Rana and Venkatesh are powerhouse performers and was an absolute honor to be a part of the same project in such a prominent role. Definitely, looking forward to the rest of the seasons.

Since you have done equal number of films and web series which of the two do you prefer the most? Are there any differences in terms of shooting and work between the two?

As I said for me it’s the work and the characters I get to play. Web series nowadays are trending just like films on OTT platforms and I feel it’s not about the medium or language anymore, it’s about content. The script plays a key role in films and web series. There is not really much difference between them.

Recently, nepotism is hot topic in Bollywood, due to this did you face any issues in your acting career, like finding it hard to get the roles you desire or directors prefer to hand over them to star kids?

In my opinion nepotism does exist and not only in the film industry, it’s everywhere. I mean tomorrow when I have kids and they want to pursue the same profession I would help them in every way I can and I guess that’s fair. There is nothing wrong with it as such but of course people like us who have zero background or influence in the industry will just have to work twice as hard. We can’t change that.

What are the challenges you faced in acting? How are you balancing your professional life and private life?

Every day is a challenge. As an actor, you have to always strive to do better than what you did before and keep looking for roles that would satisfy you as an actor. That can get quite a challenge sometimes especially when you aren’t from a film family. Well, I’m quite a private person so it’s not that difficult balancing it. I leave my work at work when I come home. I always make sure I don’t mix the two which is very important for a happy and peaceful life.

Do you face any criticism from directors or fans in respect to acting? If there any such incident, how do you handle it?

Criticism is extremely important as an actor, especially for me. It helps me understand where I went wrong and what I need to work on and focus on more. I personally take it in a very sporty manner. If people didn’t tell me what I need to work on I would never be able to improve myself and get better. I feel all creative people should take criticism very sportily.

What techniques do you make your character more liveable?

Believe in yourself first when you play the character. If you are convinced it won’t be hard to convince the audience. I try to play all my characters with absolute conviction even if it is completely different from whom I am.