As Alaya F turns a year older today, she talks to mid-day.com about her journey in the movies so far and how she plans to take it forward.
Alaya F
Bollywood actress Alaya F is currently in the coastal state of Goa ringing in her 27th birthday with four of her closest friends. This is ritual she follows every birthday, where she calls 5-10 of her closest people and has an intimate party. Ask her why Goa, and she says, "It's very convenient as it is close by. Also, my mom (Pooja Bedi) stays between Goa and Mumbai. Since she stays a lot in Goa she has some great recommendations. So it is a lot of great food and drinks. It's the perfect birthday place."
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Alaya F reflects on the year 2024
With the year nearing its end, it is also good a time for reflection. Alaya F was seen in two very distinct films this year- 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' and 'Srikanth'. Both films were very different from each other. While 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' was a star-studded action film, 'Srikanth' was an inspiring tale based on a real-life story. Ask her what these two films taught her, Alaya shares, "I got to work with very talented people. I had the privilege of working with Rajkummar in Srikanth. I had the opportunity to work with Akshay sir, Prithvi sir and Tiger in something like 'BMCM'. All the movies I have done have taught me an enormous amount. With BMCM, it is the first time I got to do commercial things like be a part of a song, look glam and act differently than my previous film. It gave me the experience of being on a hard-core action set with explosions and all of that happening. It is a very different learning."
She added, "With Srikanth, I got to work with Raj who is a masterclass in acting and performing. It was so inspiring and made me realise about the kind of work I want to do in my life. Srikanth gave me a big moment of clarity that this is the kind of work I want to do. I want to do work that means something, that pushes me in a lot of ways. I want to do a lot of good cinema and that is also my takeaway from this year. I want to focus on finding great scripts and great stories."
Alaya: Ready to make braver choices
A look at Alaya F's filmography of four years and one may feel that the choices she has made have been carefully made. Well, she believes that she has been lucky with the roles she has been offered and credits her debut film 'Jawani Jaaneman' for the same. "After my first film people started seeing me as an actor very early on. My performance was reviewed very well for my first film. After that, I got lots of acting roles. People wanted to see me in different characters. I just got lucky with what I got offered at that time. But now I am actively making a choice to do the films I want to do. I am going to be very clear with the type of roles, characters I will be doing. I will be a little more brave with the choices I make."
Alaya feels that roles written for women today are much more refreshing than the ones being written a decade ago. Despite being a newcomer, she says that she had a good amount of screen time in films like 'Jawaani Jaaneman' and 'Freddy' where she shared screen with stars like Saif Ali Khan and Kartik Aaryan respectively.
"For the longest time I think I ran away from female-centric roles because I did not want to take up too much pressure as a new actor. I didn't want to take a film that was resting on my shoulders. But that is one fear I am trying to liberate myself from. I want to take more chances I want to do roles that have a lot of range. I think that is one big change that I am actively making in my life," she shared.
Alaya says she is also quite objective when it comes to reviewing her performance and can easily look back and tell which scene she could have done better and which she could not. When asked about her favourite performance of herself, she says, "I think 'Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat' and Jawaani Jaaneman'. I shot both films at the same time. There was a beautiful rawness at that time before you come in and get technical and you start focusing on your angles and your look. At that time I was unbothered about everything else. There is so much innocence in those performances. So those will always be special".
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