Manjar Actress Vaishnavi Andhale on Her Acting Debut at 17 with Imtiaz Ali: “I Was Really Starstruck”

Mumbai: Actress and Femina Miss India Maharashtra 2019 winner Vaishnavi Andhale has been steadily carving her path from modelling and pageantry to acting. Her latest release, Manjar, marks her second Marathi film after Phulrani, and sees her take on the role of Rashmita Rao, a young, ambitious woman with a distinctly bossy personality.

While Manjar has allowed Vaishnavi to explore comedy and an ensemble format, one of the most memorable chapters of her acting journey came much earlier, when she was just 17. Through Mukesh Chhabra’s acting workshop, Vaishnavi got the opportunity to be part of The Other Way, directed by filmmaker Imtiaz Ali. Though it was a small part, the experience of facing the camera under a filmmaker she admired left a lasting impression.

Recalling the experience, Vaishnavi says, “I was 17 when I got the opportunity to be a part of a short film through Mukesh Chhabra’s acting workshop. When I got to know that Imtiaz Ali was directing it, I was really starstruck. It was one of those early experiences that made me realise that I genuinely wanted to explore acting. I have always connected with the way Imtiaz Ali tells stories. There is so much about self-discovery, love and the human side of relationships. I always feel that this is the apt genre I would like to see myself on the bigger screen.”

Her journey since then has involved extensive learning and experimentation. Vaishnavi has attended acting workshops at Adishakti Theatre in Pondicherry, along with workshops by Rachit Singh and Mukesh Chhabra, and has also performed in a play. Her time at Adishakti, in particular, helped her understand the depth and layers involved in acting.

“I realised there are so many layers to acting. You have to unlearn the idea of looking a certain way while doing a scene and instead understand the character, her background and her emotions much deeper. That has been one of the biggest things I have learnt through my journey,” she says.

With Manjar, Vaishnavi is also exploring a genre she had not expected to enter so soon, which is comedy. The film revolves around four friends and the situations that unfold around them, with Vaishnavi playing Rashmita Rao, an important character who also has a significant role in one of the protagonists’ work lives.

Talking about her character and the film, Vaishnavi says, “This is my second Marathi film. My previous work was Phulrani, where I was playing a parallel lead. Manjar has an ensemble cast and I am playing one of the important characters. The story and the entire situational comedy revolving around the four friends, and how Rashmita plays an important role in the protagonist’s work life, immediately resonated with me.”

Playing comedy also pushed her to work differently as an actor. “I never imagined myself in a comedy film so soon. I feel it’s not that easy to make people laugh. So much goes into the preparation, the timing, how you deliver your dialogues, and the energy of a scene. All of this I learnt in the process of this film,” she adds.

For Vaishnavi, the transition from modelling to acting has also meant redefining what performance means to her. Her experience of winning the Femina Miss India Maharashtra 2019 title gave her visibility and confidence, but acting demanded a different kind of engagement with a character.

“Winning Femina Miss India Maharashtra gave me recognition and a validation for my family to believe in me even more. But acting made me realise that performance is not just about how you look. You have to understand the emotion and the person you are portraying. Feeling a certain emotion is the root of acting and modelling both, but the way you approach it is very different,” she says.