'The feel of theatre is more magnificent'

Lively

With her coquettish and quintessential loud Punjabi ways, when the Lajpat Nagar lass Shweta jumped over her next door neighbour’s house, wooing, ranting and quarrelling with him, she stole the spotlight even from the protagonist in the film Vicky Donor.

Delhi girl Puja Gupta dazzled in her nosy neighbour avatar and went on to do a tomboyish role in the 2013 released Mickey Virus, apart from her appearance in Blood Money and OMG - Oh My God. The ebullient and chatty actress talks to Metrolife about her shift to the tantalising world of cinema from being a business management student in the US.

Revelling in both her Bollywood and theatre career, the actress contrasts the two saying, “Theatre actors ko toh cinema wale be appreciate karte hain. The only drawback is that theatre doesn’t get as much publicity as movies do, though I have been really lucky to be a part of Kishen Vs Kanahiya and Dear Father, two of Paresh Rawal’s internationally acclaimed plays.” She adds, “The feel of theatre is definitely more magnificent, as it gives you no space for goof-ups, with instant feedba­cks there and then.”

About her much appreciated role in Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor, the sprightly actor exclaims, “Mere se lambi woh deewarein thi, kuchh rakh kar hi Ayushmann (Ayushmann Khurrana) ki chhat pe jump kar paati thi mai,” guff­a­w­­ing as she relates the snipp­et. But on a serious note, she added, “It wasn’t easy to adapt to the typical Delhiite accent and mannerisms, specially after being in US for so long. I had only met the director a da­y in advance of the shoot, but the team effort worked out.”

But how did the managem­ent graduate take a leap into theatre and cinema? “I haven’t ever gone in for a professional training for acting. But at the drop of a hat, I used to mimic every actor. When I saw my friends settling for corporate jobs, I had a hint of doubt that not everyone can be a star. So, I wanted to ready up my plan B before getting into actin­g,” says the actor wishing that she never gets to take up plan B as she enjoys doing what she does.

Ru­­m­­our has it that Puja has be­en signed up for an international project Land of Le­o­­pold by Sean Brosnan (son of Hollywood star Pierce Brosn­a­n­). The star confirms, sayi­ng, “I would be portraying the role of a suicidal character in the film. I met the team behind Land.. in California but the fil­ming has  not kicked off yet.” Her upcoming Bollywood pro­jects are Ek Sarkari Joota, Ba­d­lapur Boys and Samrat and Co.