Aakanksha Singh: As actors we should readily take up challenges

Seen in films like Runway 34 and Badrinath Ki Dulhania, along with an array of South films, Aakanksha Singh considers herself an actor who enjoys getting into the skin of characters.

“Of course, one has to learn to take challenges head on and to do justice to whatever you are getting to play on screen. Else what’s the point of being called an actor?” says Singh during her recent visit to Lucknow.

In her recent outing Rangbaaz-Darr ki Rajneeti, she had to transform into three age brackets.

“The transition from a woman in her 20s, 30s to 40s was the real challenge. I knew it from the beginning that this character will give me a huge scope to experiment with my versatility as a performer. I had to wear dentures so my face could look fuller and I look aged. I used to wear dentures off shoot as well to get the hang of it. It was really painful as you can’t clinch your jaw and speak without any lisp. Then of course prosthetics were added too.”

Singh joined theatre when she was 15 and then went on to do TV shows like Na Bole Tum Na… and Gulmohor Grand before dabbling into South cinema.

“We as actors believe it or not, but television does typecast you. It was happening with me when I decided to take up films. It has been 10 years now and though the pace of my career could be termed slow but I am happy that I managed to escape from being typecast and got to feature in some of the best Telugu and Tamil projects.”

Singh’s latest OTT series saw her paired with Mukkabaaz actor Vineet Kumar Singh.

Sharing her experience on working with him, she says, “We worked as team and he’s too good with his craft so you get to learn a lot working in such environment. As this is the third part of a franchise so we were well aware of its fanbase and we were more confident to give our best to the story and screenplay. Thankfully, our hard work had paid off.”