 Hello everyone, welcome back to yet another episode of our series Rising Stars which profiles the emerging talent in the entertainment business industry and today on this very special episode we have with us Mania Singh. We welcome you here today Mania. Hi, thank you so much for having me here. Yeah. So Mania, could you walk us through your journey from where you started to becoming Miss India and what were the key milestones, challenges, moments along the way? You know the journey has been long I think it's been, I got crowned in 2021 and then like if I have to put it in one word it will not be possible because you know a person wants to get there somewhere he has dreamed about like for me I come from a place where people don't even dream about getting into going to Bombay or pursuing something which is impossible. So when I decided to get into Miss India it was quite different and I had a lot of doubts that okay will I be able to make my way there and I think after all I think I knew that okay I have to do this when I came to Bombay and then it came on my ego first of all that why it's not happening because I have a habit I'll tell you one thing it's I think in build a quality which I have if I'm not able to do something in my life, even small work. So then I ask myself somebody must have done this and if it is possible for that person it why it's not possible for me so yeah I mean it's always that thing happening with me that if girls are getting crowned as Miss India why can't I be that person why can't I be the mania thing and get be Miss India get to be Miss India. So yeah I think that's the motor which I had and I think I never expected it I knew that I'm gonna get crowned till 25 but I never expected that it would happen it will happen in 19 like when I was 19 year old so yeah it was quite surprising and I'm enjoying my journey it's been three years now and I'm happy and not content I can say that but I'm happy and yeah somewhere towards dissatisfaction. Definitely so Mania transitioning from Miss India platform to you know a reality television what was your experience like on Bigg Boss how did it differ your expectation and what did you learn about yourself during that time? I never wanted to do a reality show to be honest I did reality show just with the purpose of earning money because you know we all come from a family I come I come from a family where I was just like I've taken over the responsibility like of my parents or everybody around me so I felt like okay this is the because there's always a time where you go up and then there's a time where you go down so that was the moment for me that when I was going down and I was facing a lot of problems that okay I have to do work I was looking out for work I was not talented enough into acting also that okay I should try to act normal because came to me twice like when OTT came that time I was raining Miss India so it was time that I said no because I wanted to leave a message where I was like okay I am Miss India I'm doing purposeful things in my life getting crowned after Miss India so that yeah I didn't choose it but after later after when I passed my crown I thought let's try it on and when I went in Bigg Boss I felt okay you have to be yourself you have to put portray yourself but that was not the case I always feel grateful that okay the white woman colors people saw the potential in me so they invited me for the show so it was a great experience but I always say that reality show is not placed where you be real you can't everybody's acting and the strange part is that they all are really good actors because they can act 24-7 so um yeah it didn't happen with me and it did work out and I always feel that okay whatever happened happened for a good reason I came out in feelings and it was a good thing for me because I didn't have to even if I was in top five I would have won to have expectations that I am Miss India winner I am Bigg Boss winner Bigg Boss winner yeah people should come to me and get me a film yeah definitely no expectation human tendency yeah so I came out early and I felt like this was a disguise in blessings all this you know blessing in disguise sorry wait I will be on it that now I know that I don't have hinge of starting from zero I'm happy to start from zero and starting from zero I'm doing something on my own I don't have anybody around me I don't have any backup plan whatever I do it's all me even if I fail it's all me and even if I succeed it will all be true yeah definitely definitely so it's been a you know journey full of struggles I must say but recently can you share some insights into your role in air vatan mere vatan as Sarojini Naidu I mean including how you secured the role and your preparations and the process for it I mean what aspects and character did you find most challenging how did you approach and overcome them oh it was very uh I mean it was very uh random moment I mean I trained myself as an actor and you know you should be debuting as a lead actress you should be portrayed as a heroine you know so I was I had never had this uh balloon over my head I always feel patience is the key but no matter how many workshops or acting classes I take the experience which I wanted to learn it has to be in front of camera so and it will come when you portray somebody else's character so I do that too yeah so when uh it was my first project I never had like I never acted so it was quite exciting and scary as well because it was any performance was also really good thank you like when uh you know when you I'll give you one example when in the film when script comes to you uh when it is very normal character that would be there's a girl who falls in love or there's a girl with so you don't have a benchmark you could be anybody and you can empathize with the character and then learn your lines and act it out that is kind of I feel it is more uh your personal emotions which you carry and the personal experience which you have it works there but when it comes to the historic characters like similar like Saroj ji Naidu or Mahatma Gandhi ji was there Mohan Taz ji was there Imran Hasmi sir's character Usha Devi Sara's character we have seen all of them in real life so uh you know playing in front of camera and making it believable uh when people believe that okay I am seeing Saroj ji Naidu and I am seeing Usha Devi that was quite challenging but then when they I auditioned for it for sure it didn't happen to me that okay because came to me with the answer that we want to play not yet that blessed I am blessed not that way so when I uh I auditioned for it and then I cleared the audition um I got the script I got the script I think two days back when I reached Hyderabad we shot in Ramoji I didn't even know that what I'm gonna do I just I didn't even know I just knew that Saroj ji Naidu I'm gonna play but uh I was quite confused that I don't look like her I don't know how it will happen I have never seen her journey without any script or thing I knew the name that I'm gonna play and then I did my research over the Saroj ji Naidu ma'am she's the first governor of our country leading governor and night angle of our country so I started researching about her the way she walks the way she had delivered her speech and you know the poise she handled I knew that I will I'll be very honest I knew at some point that I'll not be able to copy her yeah but I agree justice to her role but obviously every actor you know it's it's the biggest achievement that you if you reach Mania 50% also of that character so it's a you know it's kind of a personal achievement yes yeah I mean it was a good experience I learned a lot I learned a lot from the director yeah when I finished my shot in the morning around seven o'clock the team member came to me and they were like if we have never seen anyone playing Saroj ji Naidu so well and even in the first two takes so you are one take artist I agree with you so I was really happy with the compliment and it was the best I think compliment can be for the actress or actor that people come to you and say that okay you're one take artist so I felt really happy and I felt really blessed that okay this is my first and I met a lot of good directors I got to work two directors such like continuously in the same day I hope Vikram Daya he's the action director and then I work with Ananya so who's the main director of the film okay yeah it was a good experience definitely so Mania as a newcomer in the you know film industry what was some of the you know challenges you face in the industry and how did you navigate these hurdles what would what advice you would you know give the aspiring actors in the industry today and you know film industry you know you know how it works it's it's sometimes it's not a very good place to be and sometimes it's you know it's the best place to be so what was your take on this you know um so Ben I never planned for acting it just yeah I never had a plan I was like okay Miss India and this study that is the two thing I want to do with my life and I'm not a studious person but I always want to study so I will give one message that photos you will face this is the one of the director I met uh he told me one example he gave me one example uh our country not just our world because of its three things are very difficult team profession that is politics uh sports and bollywood on any industry uh if you want to make a place in bollywood you need to make a lot of sacrifices your sleep your eating habits your uh going out and hanging with friends you can't do that if you really want to be into acting because there's lots of people come to Bombay a lot of people come back so you need to have I I can't say that I won't lie I don't want you guys to give uh language in a wrong expectations really yeah there will be a day where you'll feel like okay I don't belong here I still feel that way I still feel very insecure I still feel that oh it's not going to happen it's how much I should put on because me saying that that okay I'm going to give up because I've never believed in giving up is the huge task because I don't believe myself that I'm saying that I'm leaving so I always say one of the very big director Mukesh what so I met him and he told me that mania so keep planning and that was quite uh this hardening for me I kept it in a right way for sure you know no one would just suggestion the other you should have an anchor in your life job mentally disturbed now because getting in depression in this industry is very yeah because Mumbai is very dry place to be so uh the success is not constant but it's not impossible I think when you come here you have to put in a lot of work and nowadays this is much not much easier but I think it's more convenient for you if you're a good actor actually people here are going to struggle a lot but actor is very difficult so you know there were a lot of people don't want to go party make connections I said no I don't want to I know where is my forte I am going to go meet Hansel Mehta sir I'm going to go meet Anurag Kashyap sir Anurag Basav sir Siddhi Mishra sir Eniwa sir this is my genre of work yeah and that's where I want to work I want to work with all the directors of our country so that was my motto and I knew that I'm going to do it because I knew that I'm going to put it first for me I didn't make connections in parties to be honest parties so I always feel that way so yeah that's how it happened and I feel it's not easy but it's not impossible so whoever wants to be an actor please welcome but make sure that you are doing something where you can keep yourself busy because it's 365 days so I think yeah you have to put it's most difficult a profession but it's not that though it's impossible yeah it's gonna happen easily it's gonna happen if you are really honest if you work so as you mentioned that that I don't you know go go you don't go to parties for you know connections and stuff like that so I would like to know that in your experience what does you know what role does networking and building relationships plays in the entertainment industry I mean can you share some any strategies or effectively you know aspects of the business you know okay to be honest it's very difficult right now the risk factor is too much in the industry all the pills are getting clogged nobody is ready to take chances over you know new talents so start wherever you get start from it if your work will shine for example make your videos more or less and send it to the director they will see it's not that even if you send it to irani sir he will see we have he himself told in the interview that we don't want somebody to text oh hi sir how are you can be me we don't have that much of time we are here for a talent if you have a talent send your videos we'll see your videos if we feel that we fit in our character or somewhere we will call you or we will be we'll reply you so that in the only take I can see that works and that was my strategy touched by god grace um I've always been very real I know that but as a person I knew that I need to be grounded I need to be really honest people were like I don't ask for work if it isn't my destiny it will come to me and I always will know I am here to write my own destiny I'm not gonna say that okay my destiny will give me work I have to go out and even if I'm not going out I'm putting a curse and working to make my destiny beautiful so I asked for work I met Salman sir I told him that I won't work I met Anurag Basu sir I told him I won't work I am here to make relationship over work not even consider work but now by god grace I have a very good relationship with all the directors out there and I never expect them to give me work because I feel that whenever they feel of him I am good actor they will consider me and they'll give me work but that's how I think it happens right you don't have to like if not go mawapiro ni karna re the right see the see what they are calm she mawapiro ni karna re the right this other nahi bolingin at least they will feel on she's so honest or he's so honest so I think that's why and I don't go for party party not he not just for you know for film only but any which ways I don't go for party my Saturday night is at my place I stay at my place I deal with my family and that's my life I'm happy there that's great so um so tell us about your first commercial ad how did you get it and how was the feeling and how did it shave your career and aspirations in the business I did my first commercial a very big cinematographer and it was very lovely commercial ad first commercial ad of my life which was shot in big camera green paper everything was there so I had a great experience he only told me to try into acting or else I would have to take I'm going to I'm going to go and be prepared for something UPSC because I'm very fascinated by UPSC so that I wanted to do so yeah I mean it was he told me that you should try into acting because you are a very natural actor you don't have to put in a lot of efforts to get into character it's very easy so you could try your hand so I said okay why not and then since then it's been two two years now doing half years I've been trying trying trying and I got my first cameo in dharma and I think the journey will start now hopefully so how was the experience you know working in dharma production oh it was amazing it was amazing the people were amazing I had a lot of fun I was feeling very privileged that okay I have got an opportunity to work with dharma production and then yeah I mean it was really good but it was I got I got really calm that time it's a work I'll do my work I'll go home I'll be happy that's it that was I can't even tell my parents I told him just I think a month back that my film is coming And I shot this film a year, I think seven months back, so I don't, I am not the person who gets excited very easily. That's great. So Mania, my final question to you is like looking ahead, what future projects do you have in the pipeline and what, you know, how do you envision your career evolving in the coming years? Are there any specific goals and aspirations? I hope, you know, you hope to achieve. Look, I am the dreamer and I literally dream beyond my reach. So that's something how I live. If I don't have a vision, I will not be able to breathe. So that's, I mean it actually. There is another project which is coming and you guys will let me know soon, very soon. I'll not be able to talk about it, but then it will come and we get announced, I think, yeah, probably this week or next week. Okay. Yeah. Give us the, you know, in which field it's coming. It's in Bollywood. It's in Bollywood. Yeah, and I'm studying also. I'm going for my master's this year. I complete my master's and from over university and then I'll go for my PhD in Delhi. So that's my plan. I mean, that's how I want to function right now, but rest is on to God yet. Anything can happen. I think. Definitely. Definitely. Thank you so much for your time. It was our pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much for having me here. Take care. Bye.