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FILM INTERVIEW: AARTI CHHABRIA

Baby Model Turned Miss India Queen Takes Bollywood by Storm

By: Neha Sarin-Malhotra
March 1, 2011

The only connection Aarti Chhabria has to Bollywood is her younger brother's name. While he is named Abhishek, there is unlikely between her sibling and the person (Amitabh Bachchan's younger son) who made the "Abhishek" moniker famous. Born in Mumbai to a Sindhi family, Ms. Chhabria's father is a dentist by profession, while her mother is a designer of pelmets and designer curtain. With not one iota of a connection to any of India's network of film industries, Ms. Chhabria managed to build a budding film career all on her own - no small fete!

 

After debuting as a cameo in Lajja in 2001, her hard work paid off rather hansomely, landing her first character role Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai before starring in Bollywood blockbusters such as Shaadi No. 1, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Daddy Cool, Partner, Dus Tola, and Milenge Milenge.

 

Buzzine Bollywood's Neha Sarin-Malhotra took a few minutes to chat with Ms. Chhabria about her life, career, and ambitions. Below is their conversation:

 

Aarti Chabria on buzzinebollywood.com

Neha Sarin-Malhotra: Not many know that you were a Farex baby and that you started modeling very young. How did it start?

 
Aarti Chhabria: I used to be a very cute, chubby, rolly polly baby. Everybody often pulled my cheeks, and my mum loved getting my pictures clicked. My mum sent a few of these pictures to a few ad agencies and they really liked them, and that’s how I got my Farex ad.
 
 
NSM: You come from a total non-film family. How did Bollywood happen?
 
AC: I first faced the camera when I was three years old, and from then on, there was no looking back. I enjoyed being expressive so much in front of the camera that it made it extremely easy for me to face the camera. I got loads of compliments for being camera-friendly, and it built my confidence in myself. It's been a very smooth transition from modeling to acting. What better than doing something that I got a high from--something that made me extr
emely happy? My first music video, "Nasha Hi Nasha hai" (by Sukhwinder Singh), got me noticed, and I got my first debut film, Tumse Acha Kaun Hai, with Venus films.
 
NSM: Do you agree that winning a Miss India title opened many doors for you?
 
AC: I won the Miss India Worldwide pageant, hosted by the India festival committee in the USA. This pageant did not help me career-wise as much as it groomed me in many other ways, including making me more confident and good at public speaking, as I was competing with 22 Indian girls all over the world, being the youngest contestant at 17 years. It wasn’t a platform at all for me to get into Bollywood, or even get any other offers, for that matter. It purely helped me in building confidence in myself. I would have definitely gone ahead and attempted the Femina Miss India contest, which is the one that is hyped here in India and the one that has a track record of having every winner enter Bollywood, but before I knew it, my film career had taken off.
 
NSM: You have done some unconventional roles, like a Tapori in Awara Paagal Deewana. Was choosing such roles a conscious effort?
 
AC: When I started doing films, I was sure that I wanted to be known as versatile actor. I never wanted to be slotted. I think it's become a fad, these days, to be slotted as either a sexy siren or a typical bhenji. Not many actors like to mix different roles because maybe they feel they will not be accepted in any other role than what they are usually seen in. I started as a glamorous NRI tapori in Awara Paagal Deewana; then I went on to playing a mentally challenged girl in the movie Raja Bhaiya, a very conservative Muslim bar dancer in Shootout at Lokhandwala, a nagging Christian house wife in Daddy Cool, and I also played a village girl in Dus Tola. So I have tried doing a lot of different kinds of roles. Versatility is my key to success. That’s the reason I wanted to become an actor in the first place.
 
NSM: Over the last few years, what are the lessons you have learned so far?
 
AC: To believe in myself and to never give up. It doesn’t matter how many times you have been defeated. What matters is how strongly you have made a comeback, even after your worst defeat, and still gone ahead in the direction of your dream.
 
NSM: Tell us about your upcoming projects...
 
AC: My last release was Dus Tola with Manoj Bajpayee, and now I’m still taking some time to get into a new project. As of now, I'm reading scripts and waiting for something substantial and exciting. I get a lot of offers and scripts. For me, quality matters much more than quantity. As much as people say that out of sight is out of mind, I still believe that I'd rather do less films but be really confident and proud of them. That's why I’m taking my time.
 
NSM: You have worked with big stars like Akshay Kumar. How was your experience?
 
AC: I really enjoyed working with Akshay. He is a lovely human being. He is a lot of fun to be around and, of course, he is a really good actor too. The one thing I really loved about him was his discipline. While shooting for Awara Paagal Deewana in Muscat, I remember how he used to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, two hours before our shoot time, and go for a jog and come back and have his cold milk and dates. He is also a very big prankster on the sets. He would keep everybody entertained and in great spirits all throughout the shoot.