‘I come form an orthodox community, but I came here, carved my path and set an inspiration for many other girls’ – Rubal Shekhawat | Hindi Movie News

Femina Miss India First Runner-up 2022, Rubal Shekhawat has been on cloud nine after she participated in the pageant. She did a music video with Emraan Hashmi last year and this year, she’s set to make her movie debut with a Telugu movie titled ‘Ey Pilla’. It also marks the debut of Maadhav Bhupathi Raju who is Ravi Teja’s nephew. ETimes spoke to Rubal about her transition from ‘Miss India’ to movies, working on a new language for her film, experience of working with Emraan Hashmi and how she has brought about a change in the community that she came from…
The training for a pageant must be so different to now doing a film. How has the experience been for you?
When you are in a pageant, you have to be very presentable, poised. But when you’re working in movies, you have to be very natural, they don’t need a girl who is very well-behaved. They want someone who can cry, laugh and showcase all the emotions and who’s not just a pretty face.

How are you coping with learning a new language like Telugu? Especially because you come from Rajasthan…This is something I passionately want to follow and so I really will work hard for it. It’s not hard to learn a language and it’s also not easy. But people in the team are helping me work on it. Before the shooting, I watched a lot of Telugu movies with subtitles to know the kind of acting style they have. I can now understand little words, so there’s been some progress. But the people I’ve been working with are very supportive and are always ready to help.

Do you have Bollywood dreams as well?
I have dreams to work in Bollywood as well, so I’m just learning through the process. The initial two-three films will just be a learning for me. I’ve started from the Telugu industry so I’ll definitely keep working here.

You worked in a music video with Emraan Hashmi called ‘Ishq Nahi Karte’. How was that experience?
I was happy to work with Emraan Hashmi and B Praak because they’re legends. Emraan is known for his songs. That’s the reason why I took up this song. On-screen, he comes across as confident, someone who’s a people’s person, but off-screen he is so shy! He’s so genuine and made me feel quite comfortable.

You come from a small town where people are quite rooted. At a personal level how do you see your transition from there to this world of glamour and movies…
I always wanted to become an actress but yes, it’s true that everyone in my family is quite rooted. People from my culture are very orthodox but I was ready to take decisions on my own. So, it took time for me to convince my parents but once they were convinced, I immediately came to Mumbai. When I won the Femina Miss India 1st Runner up, that made them more confident, it made them feel I’m on the right track. I come from an orthodox community which had some stereotypes or pre-concieved notions about the industry and so, people are not open about it. But because I came here and carved my path, it set an inspiration for many other girls. I brought about that change in my community and I feel very proud about that.