After making her debut with Dhadak (2018), Janhvi Kapoor did an array of films that featured her in not-soconventional avatars. Be it Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020), Roohi (2021), Mili (2022) or her recent release, Bawaal, she tried to push her boundaries as a performer. But now, she thinks it’s time she gets back to being her true self for a while. Excerpts from a chat:

Janhvi says, “I wanted to take up challenging roles to understand how far I can push myself as an actor because that excited me. After Dhadak, I took off on a journey to prove myself.”

Janhvi says, “Everyone expected me to do conventional, glamorous roles after Dhadak, which, of course, have a lot of value, given the kind of popularity and reach these roles provide you. But I shifted gears, and yes, those roles were very satisfying. But now I feel a little saturated with telling stories that involve this much pain, upheaval and turmoil.”

Taking a break from that, the actress also wants to do “some comedy” now. She adds, “I want to look good and dance a little bit on screen because somewhere along this journey, I forgot that is what comes naturally to me the most. So, I think it is time for me to go back to my natural state for a bit.”

Janhvi has now turned towards South cinema and will be making her debut with a Telugu film starring Jr NTR.

She shares, “I’ve been trying to work there for a long time because of the kind of talent the South has. It’s where my mom (Sridevi) started and always got so much love. I think it was just about getting the right opportunity.”

The actress is glad that cinema is no longer divided by language and territory. She says, “South and Hindi films have co-existed for years. We have taken a lot of inspiration from the South. We have also worked with the actors and directors there and explored their stories. It’s been vice versa, too. Earlier, the films there were mainly consumed by the South audience because of the language barrier, but then we consumed them on TV in dubbed versions. So, we have been creating that fan base for a long time. With the evolution of the OTT platforms, which boasted of so many South titles and subtitled content, we are consuming them even more.”