EXCLUSIVE: ‘Main bhi kabhi Shah Rukh Khan ki Kajol banun,’ CAT actress Kavya Thapar shares her dream

The young actress Kavya Thapar might be a Mumbai girl, but she started her journey in films down South in 2018. This year she forayed in Hindi industry with the film Middle Class Love and the recently released web series CAT, featuring Randeep Hooda. She has some credible work to her name down South, including Ee Maaya Peremito, Market Raja MBBS, Ek Mini Katha and an upcoming film with Ravi Teja. In Hindi too, she is slowly making a place of her own. Recently, Kavya Thapar got into an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Bubble where she spoke about balancing work between industries, working in Hindi language, the talent exchange between the regions, her dreams, her experience with Randeep and more. Excerpts from the interview:

You have worked in South before, but coming back to the language you have grown up speaking, does it feel special?

“Being a Mumbai girl and having grown up watching Bollywood, the dream was always ki main bhi kabhi Shah Rukh Khan ki Kajol banun. I had Kareena Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit as idols, so to even be in this industry has been a blessing. For me, to reach even the place that I am at today is a success in itself.”

 

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What was the difference you observed in people’s perception and your work’s reach when you came from South to the Hindi films?

“Obviously it makes a difference because I am not a Telugu or Tamil girl originally, so when I did Hindi projects, even my friends and family could understand my work better. Even though I have had premieres of my South films at my home and my people have always been supportive of it all, but me doing a Hindi project is a big thing for them too because that’s what I always wanted to accomplish. After Middle Class Love many people have started recognising me in Mumbai. Earlier people in South recognised me but when people in your home town start knowing who you are, it’s just a different feeling.”

In Middle Class Love you played a hoity-toity girl, and in CAT you play a spoilt brat, it feels like the makers see a rich girl in you…

“(Laughs) I take pride in the fact that even if I am not rich, at least I seem like it. Who doesn’t want to be rich, at least I am getting to be that on reel. I feel like people see me as glamorous that’s why they relate me to such roles, but if you see my South projects, I have donned some very different looks. But that’s what cinema is all about, if an Alia Bhatt can do Highway or Udta Punjab, it doesn’t mean that she is any less glamorous.”

 

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When you work with seasoned actors like Randeep Hooda and Ravi Teja, how does it influence your work?

“I feel there is a massive influence of course because your learning curve should never stop. I never want to be that actor who knows everything. When you look at such amazingly talented and surreal actors, it’s very inspiring and motivating. Every co-star, no matter who they are, always teach you a lot. With Randeep sir, what I love about him is his focus, discipline and intensity as an actor. He loves really sticking with the director and I have seen how much hard work he has put in to imbibe the character of a sardar cop in CAT. He has really done his homework to put small nuances and I can proudly say that the whole show runs on him, and it is a big thing to learn from anyone. He doesn’t work to be the best, he does a scene for what it needs to be.”

 

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You play a spoilt brat in CAT, has it ever happened that your parents have complained about you being one in real life?

“I feel like everyday something like that happens that make them say it. If I ever ask for an expensive ice cream even, my mom would say you only pay for it, you are acting like a spoilt brat. (Laughs)”

With the pan-India culture becoming a trend in today’s time, do you feel balancing work between industries has become easier now?

“When I started working, nobody knew that Covid will happen and that phase played a very huge role in how the industry has changed in the last few years and turning it to how it is now. Sitting at home, watching OTT shows, changed the audience completely. Baahubali created a massive impact definitely and everyone’s attention went down South and then Covid gave the audience time to watch more stuff from there. So, this period of Covid changed everything. When I see the growth of the South industries and the work they are doing, it does feel fulfilling and blissful to have started there. And I am sure this change will impact every industry including Bollywood. And I want to work everywhere, be it Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati or in any other language.”

 

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And this is a good time to have such an approach as people are accepting of artists working in different places and not limiting them to a certain language or industry…

“The exchange has been happening for a long time, even Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif had their first films down South. People here have been watching dubbed versions of Nagarjuna sir, Kamal Haasan sir, Ravi Teja sir or Rajinikanth sir’s films. They just didn’t realise how strong there content was because it was dubbed. It has just come more in forefront and in people’s notice now. But this is the kind of evolution we keep on witnessing. When I got my upcoming film with Ravi Teja sir, I thought that people in South will recognise how big is this opportunity, but here they won’t realise it as much. I thought that even my friends and family will think that it is amazing but they won’t have the knowledge of his stardom, but I was so surprised that when I told them, they all knew about him, his films and his stardom. So, it is indeed a great time.”

Also Read: CAT REVIEW: Randeep Hooda starrer gives you all the thrills but remains a bit messy