At the age of five she started doing theatre with her father in Kanpur and now she is impressing audiences with her character roles in Bollywood movies. Be it her role in Special 26, Queen, Delhi Belly or Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, Nayani Dixit has proved that she knows the art of acting well. During her visit to Kanpur, Nayani spoke about her childhood days in the city, how she always wanted to be in the entertainment industry and how she is training budding actors in India and other countries.
Getting nostalgic about her days spent in Kanpur, Nayani Dixit, informs, “I very clearly remember that I was a creatively naughty child. As a child I used to always dance on Bollywood songs. Mujhe yaad hai ki iske liye mujhe ghar par maar bhi padti thi. Kanpur mein unn dino electricity bahut jaya karti thi. Shaam ko jaise hi light jaati thi main apne cousins ko lekar terrace par jaa kar pehele Rangoli ki anchoring karti thi aur phir gaano par naach kar dikhaya karti thi. Bahut mazaa aata tha yeh sab karne mein. Kanche khelne ki toh main champion thi apne muhalle mai. I had a huge collection of kanchas and I remeber that kids in my neighbourhood used to borrow marbles from me.”
...Nayani with Kangana in Queen (BCCL)
Nayani, who played the role of Kriti Kharbanda’s sister in the film Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana always wanted to be a heroine in Bollywood but she later realised that she would rather be an actress. “I started acting when I was just five years old. I did my first play with my father Vijay Dixit. Being a theatre artist, my father used to take me for plays and I used to enact small roles. I still remember that the audience clapped a lot when I performed on stage. Ek paanch saal ke bacche ki tarah mujhe bhi bahut accha lagta tha jab log mere liye taali bajate thay. I had no clue about acting but by the age of eight, I decided to be a heroine in Bollywood movies. I started learning Kathak and after pursuing my studies in Kanpur I moved to Delhi. In Delhi, I worked for All India Radio, where for quite some time I kept on doing radio plays.”
While staying in Delhi, Nayani joined the FTII, which turned out to be a turning point for her. “Yes, FTII was the place that really made me understand what acting was actually. I realized that I wanted to be an actor rather than being a heroine,” adds, Nayani, who was in Kanpur for directing a play which was staged by the students of a management college.
Nayani Dixit (BCCL/ IB Singh)
Though Nayani was a trained actor from FTII, things weren’t so easy for her when she reached Mumbai for trying her luck in the film industry. “Understanding acting wasn’t tough for me when I was in FTII because I was already doing theatre but the real test came in my life was when I reached Mumbai. I had no film background, so I also struggled like any other budding actor. I started doing serials like Aahat, CID, Savdhaan India and more. Doing these episodics also helped me in polishing my acting skills. Finally, I started getting offers for Bollywood films,” says Nayani.
Presently, Nayani is maintaining a slight distance from films because she says the offers were getting repetitive. “Once you are liked by audiences in certain roles you start getting similar roles in Bollywood. Same was happening with me. After doing Kirti Kharbanda’s sister role in Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, I started getting offers of similar roles. As an actor I cannot afford to repeat myself. Presently, I am conducting acting workshops in Mumbai and other cities. I keep on going to Dubai and Baharain for conducting acting workshops. We not only train budding actors but also make an effort to promote Hindi as a language, as we might be making films in Hindi but Hindi as a language has degraded in Bollywood films. With my workshops I just want to make an effort to uplift Hindi as a language in Bollywood films,” she says.