For producer-actor Namita Lal, luck plays a very big role in showbiz. The actress who is part of the film Pyar Ke Do Naam, adds that she has witnessed the power of being with the right people at the right time to work out for her.
“What I call luck is being in the right place at the right time, that’s what I call luck. I think that several times when I look back, I was in the right place at the right time. Whether it was my first theatre production, after many decades of being a banker, or how I bumped into this director at a gas station. She was going to do a play and she said she had a role for me in it. It was very unlike me that I agreed because I had a big global job, and yes, that was just probably again the universe giving me what maybe it was manifesting. Talking about manifestations, it is something that I have been doing for a long time. I was a banker and I kept telling people that my first choice was to be an actor. A lot of my colleagues recall that now I have become an actor, director and producer. I used to say very openly in board meetings that I became a banker by accident. I was an actor by heart and passion. I was constantly manifesting it and it came true. so yes, I believe in manifestations,” she says.
Talking about how her acting career just unfolded, she says, “I wasn’t expecting to be in films at all, I was doing the play Lihaaf on stage, in Singapore. I was playing the role of Rubbo, the masseuse, and I just happened to mention that it should be a film, to my director, who happens to know the director or would-be director of the film in India. A year later, I was shooting for the film, so you call luck or manifestation or going after one’s dreams, it all came true. When you believe in something, and if you dream it, you can do it!”
Talking about the importance of academics as a foundation, she says, “Academic qualifications are good in any field. I think it’s the basis of the foundation. So yes, while experiences are usually valuable in this industry, and compared to other industries, it could be that academic qualifications are not as important, but again they form a foundation. If you do have the right academic qualification, you have spent your years studying and getting a basic education, then I think it helps in every aspect of life, whether it’s confidence or presentation or communication skills. It is based on how much effort and time you have spent on your academics.”
Goodwill and references are networking in every profession, says Namita, adding, “I’ve been a banker as I said, networking and references are important there and it’s usually important in the film, theatre and media industry because you are the product. I am the product as there is nothing else I’m selling. So it gets even more important to be able to brand yourself, package yourself, and present a certain face to the world as an actor, writer, producer, or director. It is important to build goodwill on every set that you go to. When I look at other actors, it is just wonderful to see actors who are warm to everybody on the set. I respect everyone around me on set and expect respect as well. So goodwill is important, references are important as much as it is in any other industry but more so in the media industry.”
