Actor Banita Sandhu made an impressive Bollywood debut with October in 2018. But, she is still grappling to make her presence felt in the Hindi film industry. The actor, who was born and brought up in the Wales, UK, is three films old and confesses that makers of Bollywood films don’t know what to do with her.

“I think this industry doesn’t know how to place me,” she rues, further elaborating, “People constantly want to put me in a box. ‘Are you a Bollywood or Hollywood actor?’, ‘You look a certain way, so we can’t see you doing this role’, ‘Do you work in film or television?’ I’m like, why can’t I do it all? That literally goes against the essence of being an actor.”

This has propelled Sandhu to tap into her creative side. She admits she wants to push boundaries and discover “new spaces”. “I feel like not just in India, but worldwide, they (makers) lack imagination in that respect. That’s why I want to get into writing and production eventually, so I can create roles for myself and others like me,” she states.

Sandhu, last seen in Sardar Udham (2021), has been acting since she was 11. “Be it technical things like finding the light and hitting the mark or creative things such as how to ground yourself and be present in a scene amid the chaos of a set — I’ve always learnt on the job. I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning as long as I’m working,” she shares.

A quick glance at Sandhu’s Instagram and one realizes that the actor has been quite vocal about mental health. “I feel like it’s important to speak about it. If it can help just one person out there, then it’s so worth it,” she suggests. Sandhu had her own tryst with mental health. While she refrains from talking about it at length, she further continues, “Dealing with mental illness can be a debilitating and an isolating experience. It’s important to know that you’re not alone in your journey and that there’s a lot of strength in the community. I was diagnosed at a time of my life when I should have been thriving, I was in university and my first movie was releasing. But back then, mental health wasn’t really spoken about as much; I didn’t understand why I felt so empty and melancholic. It took a lot of time and work to recover and develop a stronger relationship with myself and my mind.”