Yaami Gautam
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'I have had no affair in my life so far:' Yaami Gautam
Priya Gupta,TNN | Feb 9, 2014
Yaami Gautam (born 1989) is simple by heart, strong, sensitive and brittle, for whom the journey to stardom is as important as the success itself. Her father once told her, 'More than a yes, it's important to say a no.' And that has stayed with Yaami as she speaks her mind and does something only when she believes in it. She is emotional and strong-headed. By a stroke of coincidence, her first TV serial, ad commercial and feature film have been directed by Bengalis. Of course, her mentor Shoojit Sircar will always remain the most special to her. She has stopped losing her patience when people call her Yummy or Yamini instead of Yaami.
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Her childhood
She was born in Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh as her parents are both pandits from there. But she was brought up in Chandigarh. Her grandfather started a school for the underprivileged in Chandigarh and that is why they moved from Himachal to Chandigarh. It was a small school, where even she would teach while in school. He was also the one to have started the Ramlila in Chandigarh. She has memories of going on a cycle with him to get it started. Her dad had directed a serial called India's Most Wanted and is now vice president with PTC channel based in Chandigarh.
While post her grandparents not being there, the school and Ramlila have both shut down, her father believes that somewhere it is those blessings that every subsequent generation they have has grown, in terms of being more successful. Her dad studied theatre and She is an actress in Mumbai. She was a good student at Punjab University and that is why the director of the university did not want to hand over her transfer certificate to her as he felt she should complete her studies. She was a kind of geek and was happy to be a champu oiling her hair and going to give her exams. All her friends were Sikhs, Jats and Punjabis. She learnt Punjabi from her neighbour and can now read and write it.
Vicky Donor
She was in second year when destiny played its part. Her father's old friends from Mumbai were on their way to Himachal and decided to stop by at Chandigarh. Aunty worked for a TV show. She had not met uncle and aunty since she was 10. She served them tea and they looked at her, found her good-looking and suggested to her mother that she take theatre workshops. She ran away from there with her books and told her mother to not entertain such a conversation. She was extremely shy and coy and fully into only studying. However they took some random home pictures from her mother and gave it to some TV production houses in Mumbai. They liked it and contacted her parents and wanted her to come to Mumbai to audition. That was the first time she was travelling and taking a flight.
So she came to Mumbai and auditioned and as destiny would have wanted it, she was selected by Partho Mitra, a Bengali and the director of the TV serial. It was pretty surprising as she had been extremely shy till then and could not even think of facing the camera. After doing three serials, she started doing ads. Anurag Basu directed her first ad commercial for Fair & Lovely. After doing a few ads, she auditioned and got selected by Shoojit Sircar for Vicky Donor. But she think she has something to do with Bengali directors. Anurag sir told her, 'Don't get married to a Bengali.'
Her early experiences in Mumbai
Initially, she stayed with her family friends. Hindi films are so deceptive. She thought Mumbai was this big, grand, beautiful city with sea facing flats. But all that she could see was buildings, traffic, dust, garbage, chaii chaii, pai pai... there was nothing else she could see. The houses here are so small and she felt bathroom khatam ho gaya. She didn't tell them as they had been so sweet, but in her head a different reel was going on. She felt like a lost cow. Then she moved on to her own. Going back was not an option for her. While she was not exactly clear about what she would do in Mumbai, she knew that having come to Mumbai, she would take it to the finishing line. The only regret she had was that she could not finish her graduation, so she still need to give her exams to complete her graduation. She was extremely ignorant.
She would sit after the shot and wait for her makeup person to take out her makeup after pack-up, not knowing that while they would put makeup, you were supposed to take it out yourself. She once went for an audition and was sitting amongst all these models waiting, when someone said to her, 'Can you please touch up your pimple?' she said, 'she don't have a pimple, she has a dimple' but thought to myself was that the reason she was not getting ads. But luckily, Vinil Mathew selected her and she was in that ad for Breeze. But Mumbai is a place where you need to adapt yourself very fast and yet you need to retain your own personality. It's not just about achieving success, the journey is equally important for her.
Shoojit Sircar
She remembers on the first day of shooting Vicky Donor, she thought she was giving her 100% and she thought he will be very happy, but he said, 'What were you doing? This is not a TV serial.' she got touchy and said, 'Sir, she don't know acting' and was full of emotions. She just went to her room to cry and couldn't sleep that night. Next morning, he came and hugged her and showed her a scene she had enacted during her audition and told her how she was the best when she was natural and not trying to act. From that moment, she got what he was saying to her.
Love life (or lack of it)
In 2014 she told The Times of India that she had had no affair in her life till then. On Valentine's Day, it becomes pitch dark in Chandigarh during evenings. She would have many boys following her around as she went on a rickshaw for tuition, but never had an affair. The closest she came to one, was by secretly having a crush on this Kashmiri boy from a distance. But she didn't even find out his name.
Filmography (as an actress)
2008 Raajkumar Aaryyan (TV Series)
2010 Ullasa Uthsaha
2011 Ek Noor
2011 Nuvvila
2012 Vicky Donor
2012 Hero
2013 Gouravam
2014 Total Siyapaa
