Having carved a niche in the Tamil and Telugu film industries, actor Regina Cassandra forayed into Bollywood with Ek Ladki ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019). However, it took three years for her to land another Hindi project — the web show Rocket Boys season 2 — followed by Shoorveer and Jaanbaaz Hindustan Ke.

Is it easier to bag work in the web space compared to films? “For me, it’s work at the end of the day, whether it’s in the OTT space, Hindi films or TV shows,” she tells us, adding, “OTT isn’t a conscious choice as such. It was like, ‘Do I want to do this or not?’”

As far as touching base with the ‘right’ kind of people in Bollywood is concerned, Cassandra says she cannot do anything that doesn’t come naturally. “To say it’s been a struggle to find work in the Hindi film industry would not be right, because I never made enough attempt in the Hindi space to network,” says the actor, seen in the recent web show, Farzi.

Cassandra is aware of what it takes to be an actor in Bollywood, but she feels networking isn’t her cup of tea: “I’d rather not have a conversation with someone with the thought, ‘I need to network with this person because I can do his movie’, running at the back of my mind. For me, networking has to be organic. If I know I’ve to talk to someone because they were doing a film and need to see me, I’d just freeze. I will never be able to be myself.”