Sonia Balani plays a small-town startup owner in 'Bhopal to Vegas'

Actress Sonia Balani who was last seen in TV shows like "Bade Ache Lagte Hai" as Pihu, "Tu Mera Hero" and films like "Baazaar" and "Tum Bin 2" now will be seen in web-series "Bhopal to Vegas" on Disney Hotstar alongside Ahaan Nirbaan and Arun Sharma. It will start streaming from 7th May. She shared few moments about her journey and film. Let's have a look

Tell us about your journey into films

I'm born and brought up in Agra and done my graduation in commerce. I never gave a serious thought about acting till my graduation. But I used to mimic a lot of actors and everyone in my house is movie buff. I was active kid as a student. I went for audition of "Dance India Dance" and there they told me you have got a good face why don't you try in acting. So once I went for a audition and they liked me considering I never did any theatre or training. Later on I took placement in Mumbai for a job. I used to go for auditions in weekends and then I bagged the role of Pihu in "Bade Ache Lagte Hai".

Then I did star plus show "Tu Mera Hero" and did two films one with Anubhav Sinha in "Tum Bin 2" and other one "Bazaar". Then, I shooted for a web series in 2019 which is yet to release due to covid and now I'm making debut through Hotstar series "Bhopal to Vegas".

Tell us about your family and education

My family is into business and I have two brothers who are into family business only. My family is very supportive especially my father and mother because in small cities people are not that supportive. I have basically initiated that change in my family as people are usually scared of sending their daughters out of home town for study.

What are the challenges you faced in the industry?

I'm working very hard to polish my skills and work on my acting. I did many workshops as I wanted to brush my skills because I was not from theatre background. I learned Martial arts and dance. I watched world cinema and attended "Mami festivals". The most challenging part that I faced was in networking. I'm a very shy person in personal when it comes to socializing. But it's very crucial to be updated and socialize a bit considering the current time. I remember before starting the shoot with Anubhav Sinha, he said to me you are so quite how will you act in front of camera and then later on when he saw my acting he really praised me. So on camera and off camera I'm very different.

Who is your role model in your life?

My role model is my father because he adapts to changes very quickly. At this age also I'm impressed with him in every possible way as he is a self made man. I get to learn a lot from him and he stays very positive in negative situations as well.

Tell us about your recent show

My upcoming show is "Bhopal to Vegas" .I'm playing the character of Rashmi in the series, she is very smart, she is always two steps ahead of everyone, she is also very manipulation and a risk taker. I can connect myself to this character as some rashmi's qualities are same as mine in school. In Bhopal no one ever had tapped the idea of bachelor party, so she decides to start a startup of bachelor party in Bhopal with her two more friends. So the story revolves around these three friends how they started pitching people for their startup and all the process. They thought they'll arrange the party secretively but the as we know how small cities work, the secret goes in ears of almost of Bhopal and then great challenges happen. So it is a hilarious journey of them facing problems for starting their startup. This series is in comedy note and there is a lot of laughter. The writers have a great job, even we used laugh while reading the script and also while performing. I'm sure you will enjoy the film a lot.

What is you priority, TV serial or OTT ?

Web-series without any doubt. So as of now I will definitely go with web shows because they are like films only with finite script. Because in TV sometimes script changes last moment. TV have time constraints as we have to complete our shoot in a limited period of time, because you have to give your episodes on daily basis. In web shows, you get proper time and proper workshops happen which is very crucial I feel. OTT is a boon now. In websites there is no filter and it's very realistic unlike TV considering it's a family show. I think OTT is the best when it comes to actor, director or viewer. It's the trend.