Taking the leap of faith

Anjum Fakih, who began as a model enthralled television lovers with her two versatile characters in ‘Time Machine’ and ‘Tere Sheher Mein’. She speaks of her experiences

Having lived in the Middle East, Anjum Fakih knew how much people there love Bollywood. She dared to believe in her abilities and decided to become a model, followed by a career in B-Town. The journey was however not easy...

Excerpts

Would you say acting was a childhood passion or a college fantasy?

My passion was to be a model. But later when I was moving from modelling to acting, I was very skeptical and nervous. Yet I thought to give it a try and see.

Can you share some of the difficult moments from your initial years of career?

It was not at all a cakewalk. No one in my family dreamt I would be a model or an actress, and everyone was against it. My mother asked me to get out of the house, when I showed interest in modelling, so I was in Mumbai alone for 5-6 years. I used to eat Maggi for lunch and dinner; and used to walk from Bandra to Andheri to save money for my food. Later on, my parents started to talk to me and supported me.

What is your take on playing Rachita?

Yes. Initially the scenes and episodes came out very well. But then I was disappointed. Although I did not take it personally, I think the makers could have made my character much more worthy.

What appealed to you most about ‘Time-Machine’ – your debut television role?

Roshni’s character is very close to me. I act in roles where I am comfortable. The story was also kick-ass and full of action. I’m a great fan of Lara Croft, so I learnt horse-riding, sword fighting, kick-boxing and martial arts, too.

What homework did you do to act as a hacker in ‘Time-Machine’?

I did not do any homework for being a hacker. I just met a few people who are computer freaks to understand their body languages. Some of the other homework involved riding a horse car.

As a model, did emotions come easy to you when you shifted to acting?

I emote well because I’m a highly emotional person. If a person is emotional, they can be good actor because they have been through much.

Both the shows had some versatile actors. Share your experience of working with them?

When I did ‘Time-Machine’, I did not know anything about acting and dialogues, etc. Bhushan Patel, Manish Wadhwa and co-actor Vishal taught me. Manish told me how I should express dialogues, and whenever I went wrong Bhushan used to tap on my head and explain. It was very difficult. When I stepped into ‘Tere Sheher Mein’, I already knew some of the technical stuff because I learned a lot from Rohit sir. He asked me to think about a painful memory and cry natural rather than using glycerin to imitate tears.