Yogesh Mishra | yogesh@bollywoodtown.in
Anveshi Jain talks about her inspirational journey from a small-town kid in Khajuraho to becoming a well-known figure in Bollywood in this engrossing interview with Yogesh Mishra. She talks about her early years, her education, and her family history. She also discussed how, after multiple auditions and disappointments, she finally got her big break in the web series “Gandii Baat,” which made her famous but affected her relationship with her family.
Starting from your childhood days, how was it in your hometown, Khajuraho?
Definitely this is a good way to go about it; my life is like a small-town child, and my parents are both professors. I miss Khajuraho, where I was born and spent my childhood days. Since childhood, there has been a lot of education atmosphere. I have seen a very simple childhood.
You did your engineering, followed by an MBA, and later you dropped it to pursue your career in Bollywood. How did this change happen?
I belong to a middle-class family, and a parent wishes that I will be married to a good boy after completing an MBA & engineering. Since childhood days only, I wanted to make my dad proud of me. I wished they had to roam the world; I wanted to show luxury and a greater lifestyle. To give them the joy and feeling of pride, when I started the preparation of my MBA after I finished my engineering, I felt that if I did not do anything in two years, then I would get married. And then after doing engineering, I decided to do something within two years.
What about your business, which you started during college days in Indore?
After completing engineering from Bhopal, I came to Indore for my MBA and was living in a rental apartment. Here, I started a small business, kept two or three employees, and registered my company. I designed a store here, and I called my mom Dad at that time. My dad became very angry after seeing the shop, whatever I worked. After seeing it, he said that “the first thing, you do not understand that you are a very young girl; you have opened this shop at the bus stand where you will not see a single girl who was there.” I was not aware that my dad would be disappointed. Then I started doing events and told Papa that I was hosting events. I was anchoring at different places and tasted success in that.
What next after that….?
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I started making money, and that was a very big thing at that time. The next two years, which I spent in the events, I received a lot of fame in the city of Indore, where I established myself as a good anchor and singer. When everything was going in the right direction, suddenly under some circumstances, my rental house got burned. That time I was busy with my events; suddenly I saw many missed calls on my mobile from police, fire brigade, and neighbours. When I arrived, I saw that the fire brigade and police were standing there. After this incident, I had no choice but to leave that city. I left the city for Mumbai with whatever little money I had. When I reached Mumbai, I didn’t know where to go, so I called my acting coach in Indore, who suggested I live here with his wife in Mumbai, who was an aspiring actress. Thus, I went there, and with her, I even started to give my attempts in the film industry. 
How did you get entry in Gandii Baat season 2 web series?
I used to go for auditions from one production house to another for more than a year in Mumbai. One day I went for auditions at Balaji Telefilms, where within 15 minutes after my audition, they said, “You are selected.” This is the line I was willing to listen to for a very long time. But soon after this, they told me that this audition was for a bold show, so they asked me to go home and watch the first season of this series and then revert to them. When I saw the show, I cried so much. So, I called my acting coach’s wife to check what I should do. She said, there are two options: either marry a boy told by your father or do this show. Because if not this, you do not know how long you will go out on auditions, and nothing will happen. Then I went the next day; I refused to do this bold show, knowing the fact that I would be able to change their mind but couldn’t do anything. They gave me three choices of characters and asked me to choose one. Although all were almost the same, I selected the one slightly better.
After the Gandii Baat series, what kind of roles have you been offered?
After this series, I have been offered 70 to 78 shows in a lead role, but all of a similar nature, so I refused all of them.
After doing this web series, what was the reaction of your family?
One day I received a call from my father, and he asked about this. He said, “My journalist friends have surrounded me in the office and shown your videos and screenshots that your daughter has done what? I have felt so disrespected that we have to leave the city; we have to go out of the house because people have compelled us to do so.” After listening to my father on the phone, I have gone mad. My brother tried to handle the situation, but nothing could change. After this phone call, the mental turmoil was so terrible that I could not understand how to cope with this situation.
After learning so much from the real-life situations, would you like to give some tips for the aspiring actresses in Bollywood?
If you want to start a career in Bollywood, then invest in learning about people, how to understand people and get a perspective, and look for a mentor and not a lover. It is extremely important to have guidance from someone. You must have financial independence; you should not be dependent on boyfriends for the money. You should have enough savings in the account before you start trying your luck in Bollywood. Do not compare yourself with someone else.
