C H I T C HAT
Bad girls rule
Teena Singh, who plays the badass in Akira, proud of her unconventional looks
T
eena’s avant-garde looks, a short pixie haircut
and dusky skin amidst fair and feminine aspirants,
grabbed the eyeballs of casting directors when
she began giving auditions for TV commercials and even
films later. “You don’t sport such a haircut if you want to
be in this profession. Often casting directors would ask
me to apply foundation during auditions because I’m not
fair. I faced a lot of censure initially," she says. "But I’m
proud of my skin colour. So, to prove a point I started attending auditions without foundation and with my short
hair. This became my
USP. The rest of the
girls looked the same
with long hair and
w hite skin,” says Teena recalling her early
tryst with the glamour world. “If someone tells me I can’t do
something I make sure
I end up being the best
in it,” says she. Born in
Punjab, Teena spent
most of her life growing up in a boarding
school in Shimla. “In
North India, people
make you feel terrible
if you’re not fair. All
my life, I was told that
I wasn’t attractive,”
she confides. Teena,
who first began as an
event manager, was
not keen to face the
camera. But when she
bagged her first TV
commercial in 2013,
life changed forever. She ended up doing 80 commercials in three years. While she was doing ads, director
Abhishek Kapoor offered her a small role of a tattoo artist in Fitoor. “It was because of my distinctive looks,” she
smiles. Then she landed the part of the college bully in
AR Murugadoss’ Akira, which has Sonakshi Sinha as
the protagonist. “Most girls debut in roles with pretty
dresses and long flowing locks. But my role is unusual,”
she laughs and adds, “The bad girl part excited me. I
play a gang leader in college, who’s the strong silent
type but a bully.” Teena claims that the feminist theme
of Akira appealed to her. “There are three strong female
characters in Akira played by Sonakshi, Konkona Sen
Sharma and me. Mouna Guru, the Tamil film on which
Akira is based, was a guy’s story. But Murugadoss Sir’s
turned it around and created three strong female characters,” she says. She insists she never felt overshadowed
by Sonakshi. “The fact that you got the role out of so
many girls, means you’re doing something right. You’ve
got to have conviction in your talent and work. I feel a sense of
confidence,” she smiles. She’s
even acted in Netflix’s American
show Season 2 of Sense 8. “My
director Lana Wachowski had
co-directed The Matrix. I noticed
how different it was working with
her team as compared to an Indian film set. Nobody needed to
scream, shout or rush around.
Everything was organised and
well-planned,” she states. Teena
also features in the second season of Anil Kapoor’s TV series
24. Coming from a conservative Punjabi family in Ludhiana,
her mother wasn’t happy when
she began doing ads. “She said,
‘Achhi ghar ki ladkiya yeh sab
nahi karti.’ At 18, her dad wanted
her to get married but Teena insisted on moving out. “They don’t
realise that in trying to protect us,
they’re stifling our growth. It’s a
big deal to follow your dreams in
small-towns. I believe I should
chase my dreams rather than a
man,” she asserts. Teena may not have watched many
Hindi films in her growing years but she couldn’t remain
immune to the Shah Rukh Khan charm. “I used to watch
only Shah Rukh Khan’s movies. I was in love with him.
But once I grew up, the bubble burst. I wanted to find
a guy like SRK. But I realised, men like that don’t exist.” Today, she relies only on herself for inspiration. “I’m
trying to be a better version of myself every day,” she
concludes.
20 | BOOM