ShivJyoti Rajput the female lead of ALTBalaji’s upcoming series Bebaakee feels privileged to have got such a big opportunity and platform for her acting debut!!
ShivJyoti who is from Delhi hails from a conservative Rajput family where prominence is given to academics.
Says Shiv, “My brother was the one who supported me and my dreams. He was the one to convince my parents to give me an opportunity to follow my dreams.”
“I got into the art world and kept my baby steps in the ad circuit. When I got this opportunity of Bebaakee, I grabbed it with both hands. This has been a challenging experience for sure,” she adds.
Praising her Director Muzammil Desai, Shivjyoti quips, “My Director Muzammil Sir helped me a lot during this journey of mine. Actually, all actors were living their characters for long. I was the one to be cast last. So I did not have much time to know Kainaat. For me to grab information and project it in the right way was challenging. It took me time to understand the character. I watched Urdu shows and Muslim shows to get the graph of my character right. I was helped a lot by my co-actors too.”
“For me, I can say that I got an opportunity to bring in lot many emotions for one character. And this has to be the best debut one can get.”
ShivJyoti tells that the team at Balaji helped her settle down before making her aware of working with such a huge cast. “They did not tell me all of the cast in one go. If that had happened, I would have freaked out. They made me aware of the cast as and when they were required. I got to know of Kushal Tandon Sir only during the look test. This gradual information exchange helped me to take everything in a relaxed manner.”
ShivJyoti who has had a good exposure in the ad world remembers one teaching given to her by senior actor Kirron Kher. “Kirron Mam had told me that I should not be afraid of anyone on the set. She had explained that all were characters and I should never be influenced by a person’s aura while at work. This has stayed with me. It helped me to be as professional and sincere as possible while shooting with the big names in Bebaakee.”
As for the learning she acquired, she avers, “The learning is to not learn and just accept things as they come. I remember initially, I used to go prepared on set after having rehearsed my lines. My Director used to tell me, learn to surrender to your character. Eventually, I have become a Director’s actor. I used to go to the set after remembering my lines. But the emotions to it were put on set as per the Director’s advice.”
Ask her if she matched to any qualities of Kainaat and Shiv states, “Kainaat is very outspoken, disciplined and ethical and so am I. She is very sensible and strong-headed and I too have that attribute in me. She is result-oriented and I am also similar to that.”
As an actor, ShivJyoti Rajput will not want to keep any goals for herself. “Whatever comes my way which is reasonable and in my limits, I will take it.”
Shiv had a great equation with Kushal Tandon and Karan Jotwani. “Kushal and Karan are very fun-loving. They used to treat me like a boy. We used to eat together, have fun together. I used to take pangas with them; have bullied them a lot (smiles).”