After starring alongside Mammootty and Mohanlal in Kasaba and Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, actress Neha Saxena is on a roll and has bagged yet another interesting role in an upcoming movie titled Saghavinte Priyasakhi.
The actress who is super happy to have worked in Malayalam industry says the journey was a really hard one and she has had her struggles.
“What I am today is just because of my mother. I am a single kid in the family and she's been always concerned about me. She used to ask me to continue my career in corporate and not go into the film industry too soon.
''The film industry looks so good from the outside - the glamour, the glitz, the glitter and what not. But I would say the truth is very different. Specially so when you are an outsider, who don't have anybody to guide you in the industry. The path is all the more difficult for newcomers. I was in Dubai initially; but when my mother was not keeping well, I came down to Bangalore and joined a firm there. I have been giving auditions since then. In fact, that’s how I understood the true color of the industry. I gave auditions for a Kannada movie and got selected. But then they asked if I can meet them up personally and so on.
Neha Saxena ''The same thing happened after a couple of other auditions. I was selected and rejected just because I was not ready to ‘adjust’ with their terms and conditions. I was very frustrated that I stopped going for auditions. But I had the faith and belief that I had the talent. However, I was not willing to do something wrong to achieve success.
"Then one day, while I was coming back from work, someone called me. He introduced himself as director Ha Su Rajashekar and and told me that he would like to cast me in his movie. I was so irritated that I sarcastically asked him in turn as to what his demands were. But he was like ‘girl, you are like my daughter’. That's how my whole impression about the industry gradually changed and he gave me a break in Rickshaw Driver in Tulu. The movie won 11 awards.
''Girls should start saying no. Nobody will force you to go the wrong way. These days, everybody wants to take a short cut to taste the stardom and are ready to do anything and everything for it. That kind of attitude is wrong. Because of a few people in the industry, talented people lose the stage. Somewhere, we ourselves are responsible for all this. Respect yourself first, don't lose your dignity just because you want to become a star. Don't let yourself down,'' she said.
