Basil Sylvester Pinto
How is the Josh?” Bollywood heartthrob, Yami Gautam who played the lead in her recent release, Uri: The Surgical Strike asked the teeming audience and her ardent admirers thronging the inaugural of Max Fashion store at Margao on Sunday. “Very high” came the enthusiastic reply amidst a roar.
The affable actress who recently played an intelligence officer in a lead role in the film based on the 2016 India army’s surgical strike on terror based camps in Pakistan was the apple of every doting eye at the outlet launch. Trying to touch a deeper chord with the Goans, the effervescent star thanked the Goans for coming in large numbers, and even tried her hand at Konkani. “Dev Borem Korum. Thank you so much for spending your Sunday here. I can absolutely understand what a Sunday means. You would be going to watch a film. I’m glad we have this kind of day together. Thank you so much for making this trip to Goa so special. First time, I’m come here for an event and am so glad. I will keep coming back here. Everyone knows how striking and beautiful Goa is and how amazing Goans are, each one of you (gesticulating to people in various directions),” enthused the gracious multi-lingual film actress.
In an interaction with TG Life, she spoke on her career. Speaking of her latest Bollywood release, Uri: The Surgical Strike which has been receiving rave reviews, the striking artiste has this to say: “My experience was amazing. I think a great team is only something which you can travel far if you wish to achieve something. This was one of the films. Right from the director Aditya Dhar, producer Ronnie Screwwala, Sonia Kanwar (associate producer), Vicky Kaushal (lead actor), the entire team was one of the best teams that I have worked with and that was also what showed in the work,” the Fair & Lovely fairness cream artiste gushed.
In response to a query if she met the Late Goa State CM, she responded in the negative with a touch of sadness. “I’ve not had the opportunity unfortunately to meet the late (Goa) CM Manohar Parrikar but of course, everyone knows his contribution as a defence minister when the entire (surgical) strike was happening (in 2016) and is aware of him, his contribution in politics or about him at a personal level, what kind of a man he was. The unfortunate happened,” she trailed off.
For someone who dreamt of becoming an IAS officer to carving a niche for herself in a career in stark contrast is intriguing. (laughs) “It just happened. I was pursuing my honours in Law and I got an opportunity and I auditioned for it. And that is how I earned my very first ticket to Bombay via that audition and I cracked it. Ever since I did that, and I was part of the first project, I never wanted to go back and pursue something else. I love what I do and I will always keep going as an actor, and keep evolving, the process is always on,” she revealed.
Making a heady start in Bollywood and living up to the early big credentials is a challenging task and it was no different with the bubbly actress. “I would call it expectations when people only expect when you are capable of delivering something. Not every time it is possible obviously that you will get a hit or it will click with the audiences. But for that you have to take risks, take chances, think out of the box, be part of projects that you feel for very strongly and be fearless about your choices. I am glad that the first film was a path-breaking film (Vicky Donor, 2012). There is a lot of pressure initially because there is no one initially to help you, sort of navigate your way through, how to handle something that doesn’t do well. You learn your way through experiences and time and be comfortable in position of a flop as much as with a hit,” a pragmatic Gautam said.
Having charted a career films beginning with a Kannada film, Ullasa Utsaha in 2009 which may not have fared well at the box office, Gautam’s innate acting talent served ample notice nonetheless. Subsequently, apart from making a runaway hit foray in Bollywood with Vicky Donor, she acted in quite a few films in other regional language films like in Punjabi, Telagu, Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi as well. Asked if she would love to act in a Konkani film as well, pat came her reply. Why not? I just gave my first audition also (in front of her endearing Goa fans). You didn’t hear my hi? (asks). I think I failed badly (laughs). I said hello in Konkani. If it is a good subject, everybody in fact agrees that content has no barrier. If opportunity comes through, why not?,” she optimistically replied.
As much as we adore her as an actor, and as she said in our mother tongue albeit with an accent and some help, Aunv Tuzo Mog Kortam (I Love You), we would cherish the opportunity to see the much-loved actress on the Konkani big screen as well.
While one may hope that Goan film-makers would be reading this, Gautam keeps her fans guessing on her near future plans. “There is definitely something very interesting coming my way. You will hear about it soon. When you hear about it, we will talk about it also. But I promise, the whole idea and endeavor is to do different every time and to stretch the boundary. I hope you like it,” she concluded with a winsome smile.
