Niharika NM has been a social media star for years, with a massive following across platforms. Although she is far from an unknown face, acting is still a relatively new journey for her. She will now be seen in her fourth film ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’ starring her Raghav Juyal before full of emotion, Niharika she is as vivacious and sincere in person as she is on the internet, which is also reflected in her vibrant persona even on the internet.In a candid conversation, Niharika talks about her latest film, which releases on July 30, her ambitions as an actor, learning to let go of negativity on social media, embracing self-confidence and more. Continue reading…
What appealed to you the most about ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’?
First of all, the story I thought was absolutely chaotic and crazy in the best possible way and I felt that personally I like watching chaotic comedies and confusion comedies and comedies of errors and this was exactly that. And as an audience, when I got to see the script on paper, I really, really liked it. So I thought I wanted to make films that would appeal to me as an audience. So I signed up right away and as for my character, it’s a beautiful set. Everyone has their part, everyone does their bit, all together make the film what it is. That’s what makes the movie what it is, honestly. The meeting of all the characters and them splashing their personality on the characters they have been given. I think it’s a beautiful, chaotic mess that’s really a riot.
‘Idhayam Murali ‘, ‘Persian’, ‘Mithra mandala ‘ and now that, one sees a variety in your choices.
I want to try to push my limits. I want to learn more. Because I feel like I’ve been doing the same kind of genre online forever. I’m bored, I’m really bored. And I like to be stimulated. I like it when my mind is stimulated. And I think the monotony made me feel like I was in a rut. And I felt like I had no way of showing exactly what I could do or what I wanted to do. And I chose the movies also like that, where initially I chose comedy, black comedy, black comedy, just horror comedy, all these I have chosen. But I just wanted to see different types of humor that I can explore before moving on to other emotions. Just to try and see if I’m good at what I do first.
Because of your work as a content creator, the audience knows about you, rather than how it would be for a complete newcomer. Does that add to your edge or is it a challenge to break out of that stereotype and always find new characters?
Sometimes I feel like, you know, people expect me to be a certain way, because they’re used to it. But I’ve also noticed that they’re quite open to seeing other variations, because I also understand that as a person you have different sides and explore different emotions. And I can’t be funny or happy all the time. So I think it humanizes me a little bit more. And in terms of content, I think I’ve always stuck to curating content, I’ve never shared too much lifestyle content or anything from my life that much on the internet. So they don’t really know who I am as a person.
Was it a conscious decision not to let people know more about you as a person?
Yes, it actually was, because I started on the Internet very young at 16 years old. And I’ve been on the Internet for the past decade. So I feel like I had to grow up in front of an audience. So when I fail, or when I lose, it happens publicly. So it can be a bit hard to take, understand or digest when you are so young. And I think I’ve learned from my own mistakes not to give out too much information that could be used against you personally. Now, people criticize the content of the work I do, I can’t, I won’t take it personally, I’ll take it as criticism and improve because I personally can’t comment on anything, because they don’t know. It was a conscious decision.
What it was like to share screen space Raghav Juyal i Sanjay Kapoor ?
I think I had a really, really good time working with Raghav. He’s extremely professional, but he’s just as funny off camera as he is on camera. And it has this infectious energy, which really lifts our spirits, even if it’s like a really weird moment that we’re shooting for. And I think that’s kind of rare, where someone is so ecstatic about doing their job that it really makes everyone else just as passionate, too. And Mr Sanjay Kapoor is really such a lovely man. He always has a smile on his face and is very involved in his scenes. And he really cares about the script, the movie, what he’s doing, his wardrobe, like he’s really involved, like he really cares. And even during promos, I feel like it’s always like, you know, why don’t we do this? Why aren’t we doing this? We should push this more. He really cares a lot. And I think that’s such a beautiful thing, considering he doesn’t really need it.
When you made your transition into acting, did you get any advice or suggestions that you took to heart?
You know, I think most of the advice I’ve gotten, generally what I’ve noticed is people who don’t do much on their own are the first to give advice, and it’s free. So I’ve learned not to take advice from people who haven’t done something themselves. Yes, seriously. And I think one thing I’ve learned in this decade is that it doesn’t matter what people think of you, because opinions aren’t facts. It’s okay not to be everyone’s cup of tea, because some people don’t like tea. And that’s completely fine. They are entitled to their opinion. However, I will not confuse my head and what I know about myself and the faith I have in myself with external validations or opinions, even though my work sometimes depends on external validation. I think having a strong core and believing in myself, I think I’m delusionally optimistic.But I also think it comes from feeling like I’m not good enough, from having impostor syndrome for longer than I grew up on the internet. And now that I’m older, wiser, a little, I’ve learned from my mistakes. I have learned how I felt in the past. And I know it’s not true. Like those feelings are valid, but they’re also based on someone else’s opinion, which isn’t my time, effort, or energy.
So, did it take time to get to that point where cutting through the noise and being confident in yourself came naturally? Or have you always been like this?
I think, most importantly, it took a long time. It took a long time to not feel grounded, not feel enough, not feel worthwhile, or any of the good things, you know, because I feel like we always tend to focus on the terrible things that people say to us or the horrible things that happened to us. Eventually, little by little, just little by little, I don’t think there was a tipping point or a day where I woke up and was like, today, I’m going to think differently. I think it happened because I was so tired of feeling like crap because of other people’s opinions. So I think slowly my brain learned to cut through the noise and focus on what’s important. All I care about now is what I think of myself, what my friends and family think of me, because sometimes they believe in me when they don’t even. And that really helps, like having a strong support system. I think for me, especially my team, my family, my friends, they’ve always been so solid and had faith in me, even at times when I’ve completely given up. And that really helps me get through it and move on and remind myself because I’m constantly reminded of that.
Is there a dream role or genre you’d like to explore next?
I think I have a really crazy one. I grew up watching things like Dexter and everything. Loved Obsession recently. I definitely want to play a weird psychopath or like a killer. I just want to do something crazy that makes people feel terrified. I want to do very rooted stories where no glam, no nothing, it’s just pure emotion, because sometimes I see movies like that. And I cry when I’m looking at them, like I need a box of tissues.