Having carved a place for herself in the television industry, actor Ridhi Dogra made her big-screen debut earlier this year with Lakadbaggha. The film is set to have its European premiere later this month at the 20th Indisches Film Festival Stuttgart (Germany). While Dogra is thrilled, she feels it’s “embarrassing and sad” that good content is only noticed in India when it’s appreciated elsewhere.

“There’s a certain laziness in this industry (showbiz),” she says, adding, “People don’t see talent for what it can be, but for what it is. We need people around us to tell us, ‘Arre iss mein kuch baat hai’. The moment that happens, we are convinced to put our money on someone safely.”

The actor, who has also done web projects such as The Married Woman (2021), Asur and Badtameez Dil, admits that transitioning from one medium to another hasn’t been easy. She is now set to share screen space with actors Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in Jawan and Tiger 3, respectively.

Ask if she faced any obstacles bagging these projects, and the 38-year-old says, “Playing a role onscreen isn’t the challenging part, but figuring things off camera is a task. You just want to act, but then you have to be a marketing person, too. You realize that the film industry, which claims to be a creative field, is actually such a closed setup and business-minded. Makers want to put their money on actors they are comfortable with.”