Delhi-based actor Vidushi Mehra caught the travel bug very early in life. Her father’s profession as a merchant navy officer meant the family got to travel around the world. “I have been travelling since I was as young as 40 days old,” she tells us. Mehra mentions having fond memories from her diverse travel accounts, especially from Singapore. “My mother and father took me to this water park and I remember going down this giant water slide. That travel experience with both my parents is a special one, and has imprinted on my memory,” she adds.
Mehra has been a part of many films and theatre productions, and was recently seen in Anurag Kashyap’s mystery drama Dobaaraa. Travelling to different destinations is one of the many activities that have helped strengthen her acting skills. “Travel is all about different food; culture; people, where they come from, their stories; it is interesting for an actor to step out of their horizon, go to the far east or west to see how people are.”
Beyond the mainstream
Steering clear from museums and monuments, Mehra makes it a point to acquaint herself with the local culture of a place. “I want to go to places where the commoners of that country go to. That is how you live their worlds. Going to a rich country and doing what tourists typically do, does not interest me at all.”
Given her profession, Mehra has set foot in several national and international destinations. However, Goa stands out. “Every time I go there, it is a different set of memories though it is the same place,” says Mehra, adding how she travels to the place regularly with her children. “It is not the place but I think it is the people that make travel interesting. Goa brings back some kind of wanting to connect with family, especially my kids, which is why I keep going back to the place.”
Bringing back lessons
Next on the cards for Mehra is a solo trip to Turkey—she has wanted to tick that off from her bucket list for a long time. “Istanbul is stunning, the mosques, the city, the life… It will be a combination of sightseeing and doing what the locals do.”
What is the one thing travelling has taught her? The actor concludes, “People may seem dissimilar in the way they look or what their beliefs are but we are so similar when it comes to our inner worlds. We feel pain, anger, love, and I think that is where we humans unite.”