ADAH RECALLS READING REPLACEMENT NEWS IN PAPER: I FELT TERRIBLE

Even though the initial days of her career were tough, Adah Sharma says she wouldn’t want to change a thing

Actor Adah Sharma, who made her acting debut with 1920 (2008), calls it an “unusual” start to her career. While the movie and her performance were a massive success, it took her almost four years to land her second film. “With your first (film), people easily believe that you are that character. But casting them in another film [after the debut] becomes very tough sometimes as many people wear blinders,” she says.

Talking about those “disappointing” phase in the initial days of her career, the Commando and Hasee Toh Phasee (2014) recalls, “I cried. I had days when I signed a contract for a film and then I read in the paper that somebody else had gotten the film. I felt terrible. It felt like the end of the world. But you can only dwell that much. You have got to be okay with rejections.”

Sharma believes the lack of work at that point affected her more as she had entered the industry with the assumption that if you work hard you excel. “When I entered the industry, I didn’t know anybody. But I thought, I can act and dance; of course, I will get movies. But (then) you realise, there are no rules. If you are not from the industry, it gets tough for opportunities to come your way,” she says.

Despite having done only 16 films in her decade-long career, the 30-year-old says she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’m very introverted person. I don’t socialise. To think I have gotten so far without being able to socialise much is magical. I am grateful for this journey,” she concludes.