I was destined to be an actor: Prachi Tehlan

Actor, sportsperson and an academic achiever— we are talking about Prachi Tehlan, who shot to fame through the popular television daily soap ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ on Star Plus.

Talking to HT City, she says opportunities should be grabbed before they are lost. From national level basketball player she switched to netball and captained India for many years. Armed with double MBA, she worked for many companies before getting a TV break. Since then she has done two Punjabi and South ads and is back on small screen playing lead in her new show Ikyawann.

“I always believe that it is tough to get an opportunity, still hard to grab it as it comes with some risk. I took the chance and gave auditions and look test. Till this time I had never done any acting in my life but the production house was confident. I quit my job, did some workshops and we started the shoot and learned everything hands-on,” she tells HT City on her recent visit to Lucknow.

Prachi also believes that destiny plays most important part in one’s life. “I was destined to be an actor as without any experience I became an actor while so many of them armed with degrees and experiences are struggling. In just three days I started my journey as an actor and in 20 months I am playing lead in this show,” she says.

But having done so many things has helped her a lot. “Due to my education I was able to adapt and learn quickly. And, sports has given me a lot —my height (5.11) and fitness —is due to my 11 years of career in sports,” she says.

Talking about her earlier days, she says that she picked up sports when she was in class VII. “I played basketball for Delhi for eight years and then played netball for India for four years. I was the youngest captain in the game during the Commonwealth Games in 2011 and the first medal (silver) that India won the game was under my captaincy. We won gold in 64th National Games but after bagging several national and international honours, I switched towards academics,” she says.

She had done BCom (Hon) and dual MBA – in HR and marketing and then in Human Relations. Prachi was working for Accenture in Pune when she got TV offer on her sportsperson Facebook fan page. “I left sports in 2011 but my FB pan page was active when I got a message from ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ show production house. I was amused. I came to know that it was the highly rated show. I asked my parents and they too said it was a big show to start with and thus my journey began.”

In her forthcoming Star Plus show, she is the 51st member in her family. “I play Susheel who is not at all ‘susheel’ in literal sense as is very tomboyish. She is bullied for being so tall but is very strong and is happy with what she is.”

The Delhite has won gold medal for Uttar Pradesh in the Netball National Games in 2011. “My last visit to Lucknow was when UP invited me to play nationals for them. I played for them and we won the Nationals. I was very happy to come back here and savour the Awadhi delicacies,” she says on a signing off note.

PHOTO: DHEERAJ DHAWAN/HT Prachi Tehlan