Fashion designer-turned-actor Khushalii Kumar moved to Mumbai from Delhi to pursue her dreams to become an actor. She recently starred in Dedh Bhiga Zameen alongside Pratik Gandhi.
In this episode of The Stars Live Here, The Quint visited Khushalii's house in Mumbai and spoke to her about her switch from a fashion designer to an actor, how she convinced her mother to pursue acting, her first music video to her debut film, her father Gulshan Kumar's demise, and more.
Speaking about her decision to pursue acting as a full-time career, Khushalii shared,
"Since childhood I wanted to be an actor. When I was 5-6 years old, I did my first movie, in which I did a role of Maa Vaishno Devi. That was with my dad. I had this passion for acting since the beginning. My dad loved acting and wanted to become an actor. So, I think it has come from him."
"After Papa (Gulshan Kumar's demise), my mum became very scared and she did not want me to be in front of the camera. She used to see me often playing with her saree; I used to draper around me or cut it and make something weird out of it. She kind of then pushed me to join NIFT. I did proper formal training. In fact, my clothes were doing well. I was selling in a lot of stores across Paris and New York. But that happiness wasn't there. It took me a lot of time, but I kept convincing my mom that I want to get into acting. Eventually, I did manage to do that," she added.
Talking about her debut project, Khushalii further shared, "They gave me permission to do just one music video, which was with my sister. Then I started meeting lot of casting directors. It took me a lot of time to get my first debut film, Dhokha: Round D Corner."
Video Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)