Pranutan Bahl’s career has been a waiting game — to get auditions, make her film debut with Notebook (2019) and even for the release of her second film, Helmet (2021). The daughter of actor Mohnish Bahl and granddaughter of the late acting legend Nutan, Pranutan is proud to have bagged her first international film, Coco & Nut, on her own.

“I took a long route [in my career], which people didn’t expect from me. But I was very clear about this (not using her family’s name to get work) from day one. I didn’t know if I could be an actor, so I didn’t believe anybody should make calls for me. I didn’t even want to go to the second round of auditions using their name. Bagging this film is overwhelming,” she says.

The makers of Coco & Nut spotted her in Notebook: “We were supposed to make a film in 2020, but it got pushed due to Covid-19. When they were casting in India, my name was suggested again.”

Ask if not taking on a lot of projects is a conscious choice, and the 30-year-old reasons: “I signed Helmet after my debut. It was going to have a theatrical release in 2020, but the pandemic pushed it to the end of 2021 and it released on OTT. A few other projects I had signed didn’t take off.”