Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 20, 2020)

Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, who recently marked her debut with a web film, says that acting has always been her big dream. Despite being friends with a young brigade of actors and coming from a film lineage, she says that she had to audition for her part in the film. “I auditioned for Guilty without knowing much about the project other than the fact that it was a digital film. Once I got shortlisted, they asked me to come for a meeting and then told me that I was locked. I had to wait for only 13 days as against any other film where you need to wait for a month or so,” elaborates Kapoor, who reveals that her first audition was for Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (2014).

The young actor says that she’s happy to be part of the industry at this time. “It’s such a great time to be an actor. Nobody cares about how pretty you are or the kind of body type that you have. What matters is that you are a good actor. The Dangal (2016) girls (Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra) are doing so well. If you are a good performer, you’ll be respected for your work, and eventually, you’ll get more work,” says the 26-year-old.

Going ahead, Kapoor shares that she would want to strike a balance between doing commercial Hindi films and the ones that send out important social messages. “It’s always better if you can bring about a change in society. Actors and cinema have a way of influencing society. That being said, I won’t deny the fact that I want to do a mainstream film and there’s no two ways about it,” she says and adds, “But thankfully, the lines between commercial and content-driven films are blurring now. Thappad is a shining example of that, and I’m desperate to work with Zoya (Akhtar), Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anubhav Sinha.”