The transition from being an engineer to an actor and move from Delhi to Mumbai was quite easy for Harshita Gaur. Inclined towards acting right from her school days, she learnt Kathak, got involved in the school dramatic society and gave some stage shows too. She recalls, “I would always tell my folks that I would go to Mumbai and try acting some day.”

With pronounced, sharp features which she attributes to a resemblance to her aunt, Harshita became a regular face on screen; as a model for commercials, an actor in Sadda Haq, a show that ran for two and a half years on Channel V and the web series Mirzapur before she was spotted by Vishwak Sen who gave her an opportunity to be a part of his directorial debut film Falaknuma Das, a remake of the Malayalam film Angamaly Diaries. In the Telugu version, Harshita plays a nurse, a practical woman, who is in India for project.

The auditions

It is fairly common for aspiring actors to give auditions in Mumbai; some are rejected and some are selected on the first call. The opportunities have grown manifold. Harshita concurs, “Opportunities have become easier, thanks to web shows; they are competition to television serials and films. Nothing ever comes easy; things happen when they have to.” She adds, “Rejection is a wrong word. I would say it is about not getting selected. We do attend auditions but not everyone suits the part, so you are not selected.”

On the pre-requisites required for an actor, she says, “Apart from acting skills, an actor must focus on her looks. We have to workout, and be peaceful since it shows on your face. You need to be physically and mentally fit to face the audition process.”

By the time Harshita came to Hyderabad, she already had a hang of working behind the camera. “The only thing that wasn’t easy was the language. As an actor, when you speak a different language, you need to speak it so well that the emotions make sense. I had to listen to someone else’s dialogues carefully and rehearse my lines so that it sounded natural. I watch very few films, I am selective. Recently I saw the Tamil film Super Deluxe and thought people in the south are challenging themselves by selecting such good plots and characters.”

Harshita hadn’t watched Angamaly Diaries before the shoot for Falaknuma Das began. Having seen it later, she says the character in the Malayalam film is slightly different from what she has done in Falaknuma Das; it has been changed to suit Telugu sensibilities. She explains, “I honestly feel that even if you have one scene in a film and people notice it, it means that you’ve done good work. You might be have three hours of footage and if people do not think highly of you, what’s the point?”