Prasanna Bisht: 'I Was Ready To Pack My Bags And Leave Mumbai'

'I was like I can't afford it. I cannot survive in Mumbai, so I will go back to the mountains.'
'But by God's grace, at that very moment, I got Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, and Mumbai stopped me from leaving.'

Prasanna Bisht, 28, hails from Almora, Uttarakhand, and was recently seen in the Amazon Prime Video series, Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya. She played Kanchan, a maths teacher, who is forced to teach physics as well, in a government school.

Prasanna moved to Mumbai in 2021 and has been working "very, very hard" for the last five years in order to make a career in showbiz. She describes herself as a "jungli" girl, who was so naïve when she was younger that she thought nothing would go wrong in life.

And then, life gave her a tight slap.

Still, all that is behind her now, and she is slowly becoming reaping the results of her hard work, becoming a face everyone recognises.

And she is "changing".

"When I came to Mumbai, I started feeling like a child again," she tells Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff in a revealing telephone conversation, and explains why.

Are maths and physics your favourite subjects?

Oh, yes! I love maths because of my mother.

Is your mother a maths teacher?

My mother teaches social studies in a government school in Almora. Sometimes, you have to take on more subjects, so she is good at maths as well. She taught me maths at home. She will retire next year.

What did she have to say about the show and you playing a teacher?

My mother keeps me grounded. Whenever she sees my work, she gives me feedback. For the first time, I think she really enjoyed it and has been recommending the show to everybody!

Everyone from my mother's side, like my mama etc, is either a professor or a teacher. So this is special for the family.

'I quit engineering after three months'

Do you visit Almora often?

I'm in Almora right now! After every project, I have to come back home because I get strength from the mountains. Without the touch of mountains, I sometimes go insane. Some other projects are going to start now. Before they do, I felt I had to go home and hug the mountains.

How did a girl from Almora come to Mumbai and become an actor?

It was very random. My mother always encouraged me to explore every field. She saw that I used to perform in school -- dance performances -- on stage, so she would encourage me.

She also put me in taekwondo because I used to fight a lot! I had a lot of energy. Because she is a teacher, she knows exactly how to channelise a child's energy.

I enrolled for engineering after school and participated in Miss Fresher there. My mother saw my photographs, and told me, listen, 'Are you interested in something else? Do you want to change your course?' She said, 'Do whatever you want.'

I did a little bit of research and the next day, I told her, I'll try acting. She said, 'Go for it.' So I quit engineering after three months.

Wasn't that a scary choice for your mum and you?

I don't think so. My mom has had a lot of confidence in me since a very long time, even before I felt confident. She believed in me and would tell everybody, she's going to do great. She has like extra amount of faith in me and so did my father.

I was very naïve, so there was no thought of anything going wrong in life.

So what did you do next?

I joined an acting school in Noida for three years. I graduated in 2019, and then shifted to Mumbai. I gave a few auditions, and then COVID happened. So I went back to Almora and continued to give auditions from there.

By God's grace, I got my first show, Candy. We shot in Nainital, which is near my home. For the Mumbai stint, they gave me money and booked my ticket.

I shifted to this city in 2021.

'I am a Pahadi girl, a jungli girl!'

You starred in the film Farrey, which launched Salman Khan's niece Alizeh Agnihotri.

Yeah. I was very happy with Farrey.

I was so naïve that time! I remember we were in a vanity van with the producer, and I said, I think, first day Rs 100 crores toh ho jaayega na?

And they were like, 'What! Rs 100 crore takes a lot of time!'

I was like, really?

Farrey didn't work well but I'm genuinely proud of the project because we tried to do something different.

I got to work with Somendra Padhi (director). He's a gem of a director. I have learned so much from him. Working with a cast with Alizeh Agnihotri, she's such a secure actor.

After that, I got another film, Bokshi, which will come in October.

I will be very honest. I have seen my friend's journey, and if I compare it to mine, my journey has been a lot easier. I got luckier because I came to Mumbai with a portfolio in my hands.

But yes, I work really, really hard. I have given thousands of auditions. I give two or three auditions every day. Out of that, mushkil se you crack one long form in a year.

Can you elaborate on the kind of work you have to put in?

Oh my God! It's actually working hard. I have to pay for everything in Mumbai -- from the rent, to managing your food, washing your clothes, going for auditions. Managing money, and making it last for the whole year is tough.

And there's no one to guide me; whatever I'm learning is on my own.

Looking good is a huge part of my work, and I am not trained in that.

I am a Pahadi girl, a jungli girl! People would actually call me jungli! I used to play in the mud, climb trees... So looking the part is something I really struggle at.

Sometimes I get a casting call, and they will suddenly say, Oh the costume is not going, do you have something better to wear?

To be honest, most of the times, I don't. I am a t-shirt and pajama girl, that's what I have worn since childhood.

But I can't tell them I don't, so I ask them for some time and I go and buy clothes.

Even times when I didn't have the money, I had to buy because I can't risk losing the character or the project. And for every project, you have to buy this, you have to buy that. So there is a lot of investment.

And makeup is so expensive!

So I think, okay, let me cut out this or that for dinner, and just buy makeup.

Then, there's gym fees, travel money also.

It's been five years since I've been working as an actress now and these are the kind of adjustments I have had to do. These are the things that nobody taught us, not even in film school.

'After Chiraiya, people started trusting me a little more'

Your break-out role was in the film, Chiraiya.

Yes. After Chiraiya, so many things came my way. The auditions became smoother.

This is show business. Not everything is dependent on the shoulder of talent. It also depends on how much business you are creating.

After Chiraiya, people started trusting me a little more -- that, okay, we can invest a little bit of money here.

Most importantly, people got to see my work. That is very important because people had not watched Farrey, and portfolio kaam hi nahi aa raha tha.

You got a series like Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, where you're carrying the show alongside Kay Kay Menon.

There is Naveen Kasturiya sir also. I loved his performance. And Abhimanyu Singh sir as well.

What did you love about Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya?

I needed comedy in my career so badly. Because all the projects that I had done -- Chiraiya, Bokshi, and some others -- were very heavy and dark. I needed some comedy in my life. And the best thing is when you're shooting comedy, everything is light and fun.

You are having fun with the director, with your co-stars, so you get time to relax as well. When you're doing a dark character, you have to be extremely focused and quiet.

'When I didn't have money in my bank account, it used to affect me too much'

How many auditions have you given so far?

Countless! For the past five years, almost everyday, I'm giving one or two auditions. Auditions for web shows, advertisements, films, it's insane! In fact, every other project that I see on television or on films, I'm like, Oh, I have auditioned for this, I've auditioned for that!

Don't you get upset with rejections?

I understand the process of auditioning, and that I cannot fit each and every character.

But when I didn't have money in my bank account, it used to affect me too much.

This happened just last year. I was ready to pack my bags and leave Mumbai. I was like I can't afford it. I cannot survive in Mumbai, so I will go back to the mountains, and do some self-auditions from there.

But by God's grace, at that very moment, I got Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, and Mumbai stopped me from leaving.

When the audition is really good and you fit the part, and then somebody replaces you -- if that person is talented and makes sense, it makes me really happy.

But sometimes, when you see the project and feel you could have done justice to the character, and that the actor, who is standing there is only on the basis of views and all of that, it breaks me.

Then I remind myself, it's okay, it's show business.

Actors who are not taking money from their families, and who are not established yet, it gets difficult financially initially. When actors are starting out, they get very little money, and you have to sustain on that for a whole year.

Is there time for a personal life?

Too much of it! Sometimes I feel there's only personal life, not much professional life going on (laughs).

There's a month or two of shoot, and then you're free.

What is Prasanna Bisht really like?

Oh, I am changing a lot, and very rapidly.

I was a very mischievous child. It was very difficult to control me because I had so much energy. I would be all over the place, doing everything like painting, dancing, fighting with friends, bullying people, getting bullied...

But when my father passed away in school, I felt like my bubble burst, and life gave me a really tight slap.

This is also why I started to like acting because it gave me a way to understand myself better, and handle my emotions better because I was not doing great in college. I had lost myself in college for three years.

When I came here, I started building myself again. I started feeling like a child again.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff