From nerdy to glitzy
Actor Sobhita Dhulipala has around six films — in different languages, including a Hollywood film — signed up. She talks about her journey from being an uncool, gawky kid in school to her life now in the glam world
Sobhita Dhulipala has always tried to do the unusual. Born in a Telugu Brahmin family in Tenali (Andhra Pradesh) and raised in Visakhapatnam, she moved to Mumbai to pursue higher studies and ended up starting a career in Bollywood.
She took the first steps into showbiz via modelling. Sobhita won the Femina Miss
India (2013) pageant and went on to be the 2013 Ms Earth. And after debuting on the silver screen with Raman Raghav in 2016, in an unusual U-Turn, she veered South.
The actress dreams of spreading her wings up to Hollywood, but right now, it’s Telugu films she’s focussing on.
At school, she was uncool — the nerdy kid with heavily oiled hair. But today, she is comfortable in the world of glitz and glam.
Excerpts for an interview:
I was impressed by how confident the people were. I was nerdy. So dressing up was a matter of great excitement, and something outside my daily routine. Taking part in a pageant was just an experiment — winning wasn’t the primary goal. I felt it was a way to release my creative impulses. I had no idea where I was headed. I remember my parents being concerned about me because I had no clear goals. After the pageant I did a fair amount of modelling. I learned Hindi and did a few auditions for commercials.
YOU WERE JUST 17 WHEN YOU MOVED TO MUMBAI. WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE OF THOSE DAYS?