Sanjana Sanghi talked about how a chance role in Ranbir Kapoor-Nargis Fakhri starrer Rockstar changed her life.
Before making her debut as a leading lady in Sushant Singh Rajput’s swan song Dil Bechara in 2020, Sanjana Sanghi made an appearance on screen as Mandy, the younger sister of Nargis Fakhri’s character Heer in Imtiaz Ali’s musical drama Rockstar in 2011.
Recently, in a chat with DNA when Sanjana was asked to talk about one role that changed her life, the actress said, “In India, being an actor and being a star are always so closely knit. Rockstar made me realise I can act. And Dil Bechara kind of turned me into a household name overnight. I felt like I have been on the journey with the audiences.”
Sharing her experience of working in Rockstar, Sanjana said, “When you are 13, you don’t know very much about anything. I think that helped me because I didn’t think this is Imtiaz Ali or Ranbir Kapoor and that I was on a film set. I was flowing and I felt I was at home. That camera didn’t intimidate me. You hear stories that people freeze in front of the camera and people get starstruck. None of these things were happening with me.”
Post Rockstar, Sanjana did supporting roles in a couple of films before she took a break to pursue her higher studies. Back then, at the end of the first schedule of Rockstar in Kashmir, according to Sanjana, Imtiaz had cautioned her mother that she would try to leave acting for academia but her mother did not let that happen.
Seven years later, Mukesh Chhabra who was the casting director of Rockstar, cast her as the female lead in his directorial debut, Dil Bechara opposite Sushant Singh Rajput.
Talking about that film, Sanjana shared, “I still don’t think I realise the number of people who have watched Dil Bechara and have been affected by it. Whether it’s at the passport office or at an airport, they don’t just know me but they remember my character’s name too. That can take you many films sometimes. So the two films have done very different things for me.”
On the film front, Sanjana Sanghi was recently seen in Dhak Dhak alongside Ratna Pathak Shah, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Dia Mirza.
