<p>From being a beauty pageant title holder to becoming a lead actress in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production, Jhataleka Malhotra has come a long way. In a candid interview, <span class="italic">Metrolife</span> spoke to the ‘Tuesdays and Fridays’ star.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>How did you land up with the offer?</strong></p>.<p>I was doing an acting workshop at the time and SLB (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) productions were looking for new faces. Shobha Sant, with whom I had a meeting, had recently had a meeting with SLB. She gave me an idea about what they were looking for in terms of launching faces. A month after, I was called for a meeting with Bhansali. He asked me to send in some auditions. A couple of months after, I got the call saying SLB Productions wants to launch me.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>Taranveer Singh, Anmol Thakeria, and you are making your Hindi film industry debut. How was it like working with so many new energies on the set?</strong></p>.<p>Great! Because all three of us were sharing this milestone together. We were all very excited, and we put everything that we had because it was ride-or-die for us.</p>.<p>We brought that energy to set every single day and tried to be helpful to each other and enhance each other’s performance.</p>.<p>We talked a lot to the director and the writer in order to understand what they wanted out of the characters. I hope we have been able to do that.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>What are the changes that you have experienced in your life after you were signed up for the film?</strong></p>.<p>SLB Productions keep everything under the wraps and not many people know about it.</p>.<p>Not many people knew at that point that I was getting into the industry and that too with SLB Productions. I think, now I will see what changes. We had our announcement three weeks ago and the film promotion started right after. The immediate changes I’ve seen is on social media. There are a lot of people reaching out after watching the trailer and the songs, which is very new to me.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>Did being a beauty pageant title help in entering the film industry?</strong></p>.<p>Pageants definitely help you in terms of having an experience, and grooming yourself and getting to know yourself better, but I don’t think the pageant had anything to do with me getting the film. I started concentrating on film auditions only after I served as Miss India for a year. I wasn’t perceived as a beauty queen or a pageant winner or a model. I was going and giving auditions like any other new face.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong><span class="bold">What was it like working with Bhansali Productions?</span></strong></p>.<p>I was extremely scared to have a meeting with Sanjay sir. He is a genius. He has given masterpieces to this industry. And his eye-for-detail is impeccable. I was very intimidated. He also happens to be my dream director. He was very welcoming and sweet.</p>
<p>From being a beauty pageant title holder to becoming a lead actress in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production, Jhataleka Malhotra has come a long way. In a candid interview, <span class="italic">Metrolife</span> spoke to the ‘Tuesdays and Fridays’ star.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>How did you land up with the offer?</strong></p>.<p>I was doing an acting workshop at the time and SLB (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) productions were looking for new faces. Shobha Sant, with whom I had a meeting, had recently had a meeting with SLB. She gave me an idea about what they were looking for in terms of launching faces. A month after, I was called for a meeting with Bhansali. He asked me to send in some auditions. A couple of months after, I got the call saying SLB Productions wants to launch me.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>Taranveer Singh, Anmol Thakeria, and you are making your Hindi film industry debut. How was it like working with so many new energies on the set?</strong></p>.<p>Great! Because all three of us were sharing this milestone together. We were all very excited, and we put everything that we had because it was ride-or-die for us.</p>.<p>We brought that energy to set every single day and tried to be helpful to each other and enhance each other’s performance.</p>.<p>We talked a lot to the director and the writer in order to understand what they wanted out of the characters. I hope we have been able to do that.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>What are the changes that you have experienced in your life after you were signed up for the film?</strong></p>.<p>SLB Productions keep everything under the wraps and not many people know about it.</p>.<p>Not many people knew at that point that I was getting into the industry and that too with SLB Productions. I think, now I will see what changes. We had our announcement three weeks ago and the film promotion started right after. The immediate changes I’ve seen is on social media. There are a lot of people reaching out after watching the trailer and the songs, which is very new to me.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong>Did being a beauty pageant title help in entering the film industry?</strong></p>.<p>Pageants definitely help you in terms of having an experience, and grooming yourself and getting to know yourself better, but I don’t think the pageant had anything to do with me getting the film. I started concentrating on film auditions only after I served as Miss India for a year. I wasn’t perceived as a beauty queen or a pageant winner or a model. I was going and giving auditions like any other new face.</p>.<p class="Question"><strong><span class="bold">What was it like working with Bhansali Productions?</span></strong></p>.<p>I was extremely scared to have a meeting with Sanjay sir. He is a genius. He has given masterpieces to this industry. And his eye-for-detail is impeccable. I was very intimidated. He also happens to be my dream director. He was very welcoming and sweet.</p>
