Honestly, I don’t remember the last time an interviewee responded to my first question with the words, “Wow, you are intelligent, and I can see that you are skillful.” Apart from being an immediate serotonin boost, these words can also bring out your inner cynic, and make you go: What if it is sarcasm? But actor Payal Rajput isn’t someone who filters her honest thoughts, and revels in letting her stream of consciousness flow through her words. Serotonin boost, it is. But the question that made her say those words was, “Don’t you think you should be getting better roles that allow you to do a lot more than what you are asked to do?” And after giving yours truly a swing of serotonin, Payal says, “You have to make peace with being stereotyped because not all actors have control over it. Life is very tough. An actor wakes up every day with uncertainty. Will we get the right calls? Do we let go of one opportunity waiting for another, which might not come?”
In the time it took to say this, Payal moved on from being an upbeat person to a rather pensive one. “I haven’t been working for the past year and a half. I lost my father to cancer about eight months back, and I’ve been going through a lot,” says the actor, taking a pause, before adding, “My father's parting words were, ‘You have to chase your dreams. You have to move on. You cannot stop here. Cancer is taking me, but not my love for you…”
Fuelled by these words, Payal made her comeback onscreen after a couple of years with RS Durai Senthilkumar’s Leader, headlined by business magnate-turned-actor Legend Saravanan. Although the role had limited screen time, Payal made a significant impact in Leader. “See, I understand that the film is pivoted around him, and that is okay. What’s important is that a successful film can give recognition to many involved in the project,” says Payal, who considers this her proper debut in the language despite having made her debut in Iruvar Ullam (2021), a direct-to-OTT release. Having made her feature film debut in Punjabi with Channa Mereya, a remake of the iconic Marathi film Sairat, Payal has also starred in Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. “I have worked in many industries, and language has been a challenge, but not a barrier. Language is all about practice. The more you practice, the more you'll become comfortable with it. Every language has a rhythm and a tonality. I enjoy listening to Tamil, and I think it is like a lullaby for me,” says Payal, who asserts that she is a one-take actor even if it is in her non-native language. “There’s a process. I'll write the meanings of different words, then practice them until I get them right. If you put me in a situation where I am uncomfortable, or there is discomfort with the lines, my best performance comes out.”
While many other actors, who are working in languages new to them, aren’t really putting the same effort into both lip-syncing and learning the lines with the same fervour, Payal isn’t exactly flooded with offers that many of her contemporaries get. In fact, she is often referred to as an ‘underrated’ actor. “You know, all we do is feel bad about ‘underrated’ actors. Some comments go, ‘Why are you not coming to Telugu films…’ The reason is simple: I am not receiving a lot. People seem to be intimidated by me. I'll wait for the right project. If it falls into place, good… otherwise, I will try to make it on my own,” says a confident Payal.
In an industry that is rapidly evolving and heavily reliant on networking, Payal is trying to make it on her own, relying on social media as a crutch. Crediting the pandemic for making her understand that social media clout is the new currency, Payal says, “When RX100 had just been released, I couldn't express myself the way I am doing today. I have always been an introvert, and it took me a long time to understand I'm a public figure,” says Payal, who points out that it isn’t just for personal growth but also for the better prospects of her films. “Post-COVID, it's so difficult to drag people to the theatres. It has become very tough for all the actors, producers, and directors. We need to do whatever we can to get people’s attention to us and our films. That’s where social media comes in. And as actors, social media has given us the space to create our own ecosystem. I'm at a stage where people are loving me; they are giving me so much warmth, and I even get free clothes and other commodities through collaborations. This is like a blessing.”
But this wouldn’t have been easy for an outsider in cinema, who is also trying to establish herself in multiple industries. “I try to keep things very simple. I have been working in this industry for over a decade. I started working to support my family, and that still takes priority,” says Payal, who signs off by explaining how she learned to take it slow, and to prioritise herself. “I have some anxiety issues, and I’ve been restless for the better part of the past decade. I worked so much that even sitting at home for a day or two felt like wasting time. But after I attended a Vipassana course, I learned to cope with my own thoughts and to accept people as they are. More importantly, I learned how to avoid things, thoughts, and people, too." Ignorance is bliss, and at times, a serotonin boost, indeed...