Gauahar Khan is excited for her upcoming series Bestseller, which also stars legendary actor Mithun Chakraborty and Shruti Haasan. Gauahar plays Mayanka, which she described as the most challenging role of her career as it gave her a “perfect exposure as an actor.” She told indianexpress.com that the character showcases “different shades of a woman.”
“The contradictions, complications and complexities of this particular character make it very relatable. And if you play this character anywhere over the top, people are not going to relate to it. I hope that I have played it in the most raw, real and easy fashion,” she said.
Gauahar said she was extremely excited to be working with Mithun Chakraborty. “He is a dream to work with and somebody that everyone wants to work with.”
“For me, first of all, I was pinching myself that ‘Oh, my God it is Mithun Chakraborty in the series.’ The fact that I got to perform in front of him as a co-actor was in itself a dream. He’s super fun to be around. He is a chiller. He is constantly making us laugh and pulling our leg. It was an absolute joy to work him,” the actor said.
BESTSELLER TRAILER
The trailer of Bestseller shows a character facing online harassment. Gauahar admits that she has mastered the art of ignoring negativity of any sorts.
“There was a time when I used to take the effort to reply back and put across my point of view. But now, I don’t care who they are, where they are from or how much they are getting paid to do so. For me, they don’t exist. So, I don’t bother to reply to them,” Gauahar replied and added, “But in Bestseller, the troll or the stalker will do a lot of crazy things.”
Like the term bestseller is used for novels, actors have often been judged by the box office performance of their films. But Gauahar feels that the trend is “history.”
“Yes, numbers do put you in a certain category. But on the other side, there are people like me who paved their path through consistent work and display of their talent. That’s all that I concentrate on,” the actor explained, adding that she really feels OTT is a great medium where actors get recognition for their performances.
“OTT is a great medium because over here, no one is the lead or front runner. In fact, when you see any of the popular OTT shows, you see that the face of most of the shows are not the leads but those who connected with the audience the most or people who had the most impact. That in itself is a great change or a new beginning where actors get work for their potential,” the actor remarked.
But does Gauahar Khan feel like things are finally falling in place for her? “I have felt that for a couple of years now because the kind of work that is being offered to me is like ‘Oh yeah, I want to do that.’ It’s not like ‘Arre yaar, ye kyun aaya.’ It’s not in that space anymore. The kind of characters that come to me now, I am like, ‘Finally!’ So, I think eventually good work is what gets you more exposure. I have absolute faith in my talent and I knew that only my work will speak for itself. And that’s exactly what’s happening and I’m very grateful for that,” Gauahar said.
When we asked if her husband Zaid Darbar has a favorite Gauahar Khan film or show, the actor surprised us with the reply.
“He hasn’t watched a lot of my work, honestly. And even today, I think he gets surprised that I was in this or that project,” Gauahar laughed and added, “He has no idea. But he watched Begum Jaan when I was away for one of my shoots. He called me in the middle of the night and said, ‘Jaanu, you are too good in Begum Jaan.’ And I was like – ‘Oh, you finally watched it.’ He also watched Tandav. He really liked it.”
While Gauahar admits to being influenced by her mother on a personal level, professionally, she looks up to many actors. “I used to watch a lot of films of Rekha ji, Dimple Kapadia and Dilip Kumar. And how can I ever forget Amitabh Bachchan! The kind of impact he had on my life. I used to see him like my father. He reminds me of him and his personality. I used to be super impressed by him and his performance. And even Mithun da and Sridevi.”
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On a concluding note, when we asked the actor what will be the title of her biography, Gauahar Khan replied, “I’ve never really thought about that. But I think I might call it Alive or She Lived because I think my life has been an amalgamation of hardships, success, love, hatred or heartbreaks. There have been points in my life that I absolutely rejoiced because of the kind of opportunities I got. I also struggled a lot. I think the fact that I lived through it all with no regrets and having absolutely nothing to change, that’s why I would call my biography – Alive or She Lived.”
For Gauahar, her journey is still a “long way ahead,” but what is she looking forward to? “There’s so much coming in 2022. Starting with Bestsellers, which I think is gonna turn the tables for me in so many ways. I just think life is just gonna get better and more beautiful from this point,” she concluded.
Bestseller will stream on Amazon Prime Video from February 18 onwards.
