Shibani Bedi talks about the film ‘Thank You for Coming’, her journey as a content creator and how Bollywood is a completely different ball game

Content creator and actor Shibani Bedi was recently seen essaying the role of Tina Das in Rhea Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor’s film Thank You for Coming. Written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh, the film also stars Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila and others. If you want to know more about the movie, ABP live We met with Shibani Bedi over a video call where she shared about the film and also talked about her journey from being a content creator to becoming an actress.

Shivani, who is known for her Instagram content, said that Bollywood is a completely different ball game and that she had a lot of fun working with all the people in this film.

Below are some excerpts from the interview.

Could you tell us about your movie “Thank You for Coming”?

The film is about the life of the main character Kanika Kapoor and her relationship with her friends and family. Her mother happens to be a single mother who is not married and Kanika does not want to be like her. Her life goal is to find and marry her prince charming, but throughout the process she feels that her own needs are not being met, even though she is actively dating. I also noticed that there isn’t. Then she decides to compromise and have an arranged marriage. After that, many incidents occur on the day of her engagement, and after that, she decides to go on a journey to find out something. So it becomes a bit like some kind of who’s who…

Basically, it’s a coming-of-age story about a woman in her 30s who still has a lot of work to do and goes on a journey to find love and acceptance for herself.

The film features many of the content creators and influencers we admire and have seen on social media. Now that you’re all together, how was your work?

Honestly, it was really fun. We give them the tag “influencers,” but at the end of the day, we’re all performers. Me, Kusha and Dolly are content creators. Shehnaaz has appeared in many non-fiction shows and we have also seen her in reality shows. So, she is also a content creator in her own right. Influencer tag towise bimjihe samajinahiata hai, But I feel like we’re all social media performers. Humne apne barbut pe apni kalako project kiya hai duniya main aur unke aur pyaar ko geeta hai. Because whether we’re influencers or not, we’re all human beings, and many of them, including Rhea, Bhumi, Ekta, and the writers, are really good people, insecure, really kind people. That’s why. I had a lot of fun working with all of them and I think they made this journey a very healthy one.

You’ve done a lot of comedy sketches on social media. So what was the transition like from working in comedy to this kind of film?

We do comedy on social media because it works. If we don’t do things that people can relate to on the mediums where we create content, our growth suffers a little bit. But to be honest, all three of us – myself, Kusha and Dolly – don’t just do comedy. Instead, it uses comedy to make a somewhat tight script funny and relatable. But there are many underlying messages in these videos. I use humor because there are many things that the audience will not like if you tell them with a sad or angry face, but if you say the same thing in a humorous way, the audience will laugh and ask you more questions. .themselves “Yeh kya bol guy.”

I think sometimes humor helps, but if you look at the content, I also do sketches. We’re doing it on Instagram, so our time is limited, and we don’t have the equipment to do something as big as a movie. So, with all these things in mind, the performance aspect is always changing and we’re all trying our best to perform well and bring out new characters and do all of these things, but You should also add a little humor so that the audience will accept it and do it without anger or disgust.

As a creator, you often have to put aside sad things that happen in your life, move past them, and continue to tell your story through your content. So how do you manage it?

I don’t really understand it, I’ve just gotten used to it. I also have a habit of laughing at my own tragedies. I don’t take life too seriously, so when the shock of all the bad things that happen wears off, I just want to laugh. Finding humor in life to move forward is a mechanism I personally use, and I also use this as inspiration for my content.

But if I’m going through a really sad phase in my life, I sometimes take a break and give myself time to heal.

How has your journey been from content creator to actor so far?

It was interesting. Every journey has many ups and downs. Content creation came as a byproduct of being an actor. I have been doing theater since I was young and have performed in many plays. After that, I didn’t know what to do with my talent. Theater doesn’t make a lot of money, so I couldn’t work full time, and film and television were a big risk.

I come from a middle class family where financial security is important. On top of that, I never had a lot of confidence in myself. As a chubby girl, I had a lot of body image issues and grew up with a lot of self-confidence. I never thought that I had to be the heroine because I was the prettiest in the class. All I knew was that I was good at acting because I had been trained in acting and people appreciated that. I wanted to act, but I didn’t know where or how. Thankfully, when this online boom happened, I started shooting web videos along with theater. I also worked as a journalist for about 8 to 10 years. Then the web video trend started and I got this platform. This helped me start my journey as a content creator and gain recognition.

Over the past five or six years, I’ve played a few small roles in movies that didn’t get much recognition, but I enjoyed the process. They were interesting characters. So, after going through those permutations and combinations, I think it’s now time to narrow it down and feel like it makes sense. So this is a great feeling and I hope this journey never ends.

I hope this is the beginning of a new chapter and I get more interesting jobs and tell more stories by acting them.

You have done many comedy sketches with Ankush Bahuguna. Do you think this also paved the way for you as an actor?

not much. Ankush is a lot of fun to work with and my creative flow is strong when I’m with him. We have been working together for the past 6-7 years. So I get along very well with him. He is a very dear friend and is like a brother to me. That’s why it’s so easy to work with him. The only advantage of these videos that we do is that they are very creatively satisfying. Mujhe bohot scoon mirta hai ye vanakar. My Hasty Letty Hu Saala Time. Also, I am really grateful that I received a lot of love from the viewers. Secondly, it also helps build credibility and popularity on social media, which also has a positive impact on my financial situation.

But that doesn’t help much when it comes to acting and ratings in Bollywood. Content creation feels like a different field. I think in order to be seen as a believable actor, he needs to be seen as doing a certain kind of job, which I don’t think would suit him as a content creator. Any content creator who can play a role in a movie, believe in yourself, believe in yourself and gather followers. Vo aapko mirti hai kyun ki aapne audition bohot ache se kiya hai aur movie makrus ko raga hai ki unke vision main aap fit ho.

Unless they cast you in a character you know, we have to go through a long audition process. However, other roles require multiple auditions, and just because you’re Instagram famous doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the role. Bollywood is a completely different ball game. Your reputation will get you heard from casting agencies and make you memorable to filmmakers and producers, but working with them is an entirely different process. I just went through multiple auditions and screen tests until I was selected as “Thank you for coming.”

“Thank You for Coming” will be released on October 6th.