Drashti Dhami: More than missing being on screen, I missed not acting

In her 13-year-old career, Drashti Dhami has been a prominent face on television. Now she is looking forward to her web debut. The actor, who was last seen in Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka, has been away from the tube for over two years now.

“I had shot for a project before the lockdown, so I had something to look forward to. I am eager to be back on the sets and shooting again. I want normalcy now,” she says, adding being away from the limelight did affect her. “In the sense, I want to work as I like to working. It is not about people recognising me or just being on screen. I love acting and I am made for it. I don’t have a plan B in my career. Acting is all that works for me. I miss being onscreen and the chaos and energy on sets. When you do a daily show, you are working nonstop and don’t have time to think, which I miss. But I am also enjoying this break as I would like to work with some breaks. But last year, bahut zyada ‘me time’ ho gaya hai (laughs). Ab kaam karna hai. I am excited about my web show as I don’t know a single person in the crew while on TV shows, I knew almost everyone. So that is fun as I will learn a lot from their style of working,” she says.

Dhami admits that the industry has been affected a lot last year with work slowing down, budget cuts and projects being cancelled. “OTT has brought about a huge change in the way we consume content. The OTT boom was expected maybe few years ago and I couldn’t understand how that would be. I always thought TV will always remain the same. But Covid changed the scene and people now loving OTT with new shows and concepts. But industry is being cautious as if they start shoot, and get one case, the shoot is stalled for days, which is cost-bearing too. Even my web show was supposed to be shot abroad, but it began snowing so we had to push it a bit. I think due to Covid, projects have been delayed too,” she says.