EXCLUSIVE: Modern Love Mumbai’s Fatima Sana Shaikh on overcoming fear of being lead actor: Kitna darega insaan

EXCLUSIVE: Modern Love Mumbai’s Fatima Sana Shaikh on overcoming fear of being lead actor: Kitna darega insaan
Fatima Sana Shaikh left cine-goers and critics in awe with her act as Geeta Phogat in the 2016 film Dangal. And now, a few years later, she is once again making headlines with her performance of a Kashmiri immigrant, Lalzari, in Shonali Bose’s Raat Rani: one of the six movies in Pritish Nandy’s anthology Modern Love Mumbai. Between 2016 and 2022, Fatima featured in select few movies, out of which, most have an ensemble cast. In one of her earlier interviews, she shared that she used to be nervous about being the lead actor and found support in multi-starrers. So, it’s only a pleasant surprise that the actress could not only carry her latest film on her shoulders, but also she did it with such brilliance. Recently, I connected with Fatima and talked about the same.

Fatima Sana Shaikh opens up on overcoming self-doubt
I asked Fatima Sana Shaikh about how she overcame her initial fear of being a lead actor in a film, and where she found the confidence to carry Raat Rani on her shoulders. She exclusively told Pinkvilla, “I think…I don’t know...abhi, Covid bhi ho gaya…aapko bhi lagta hain ‘abhi kitna darega insaan’ (We had the COVID-19 pandemic, and you wonder how long would you be afraid). At some point you need to believe in yourself too. So, I was like, ‘If I fail, I fail. If I won’t, I won’t. But I keep on trying at least. How long can I be scared of not walking on my own, you know? Cycle bhi khud se chalana seekhna hi padta hain naa…toh usi tarah (At the end of the day, you need to learn cycling on your own). Abhi, I am happy that it worked out. I am happy that people liked my performance. And Shonali is a lovely director, and a person. For me, she is a very special and important person in my life. She’s also given me confidence.”