Actor Yami Gautam has responded to being labelled a “nationalist” for her recent film choices, saying she wasn’t even aware that people had tagged her that way. She added that she doesn’t take such labels to heart and prefers to focus on her work.
Yami breaks her silence
During the trailer launch of her upcoming film Haq, Yami was asked about being tagged a “nationalist actor” because of her recent choice of films. In recent times, she has featured in projects such as Lost, Article 370, Uri: The Surgical Strike and A Thursday. The actor dismissed the label with humour.
“Label hai, mujhe pata bhi nahi hai. I don’t know. Agar hai toh logon ka kaam hai kuch na kuch kehna. Yeh nahi toh kuch aur label, phir kuch aur, phir kuch aur. Parso kuch aur tha. Pehle kuch underrated label tha. Usse pehle kuch aur tha. It keeps shifting. Main woh sab nahi samajhti hun ([There’s a label – I don’t even know what it is. If there is one, well, people will always have something to say. If not this label, then something else, and then something else again. Earlier, it was underrated. Before that, it was something else. It keeps shifting),” Yami said when asked about being tagged a nationalist.
The actor continued, “I believe that jo mauka mujhe mil raha hai, jin kahaaniyon ko kehne ka, unka apna wajood hai, unki apni importance hai, zaroorat hai — entertainment ke madhyam se. Hum ek documentary bhi bana sakte the. Hum ek entertainment ke business me hain, har tarike ki audience hai — tier 1, tier 2, tier 3. Koshish rehti hai ek sath logo ko jodne ki, kuch naya, kuch fresh kahaani lane ki (The opportunities I’m getting to tell stories which have their own identity, their own importance, and their own need to be told through the medium of entertainment. We could’ve made a documentary too, but we are in the entertainment business, which caters to all kinds of audiences. The effort is always to connect the majority of people together).”
Here, Yami shared that she respects the labels given by her audience, saying, “Agar aap kahaani ko dekhte hain, aur aapko acha lage, woh ek achi film hai. Agar aapko kuch aur dimaag me aye, then you are a different kind of audience, and I respect that also. It’s fine. But, audience ne toh mujhe kabhi bhi nahi kaha. I’ve been in service to them.”
It translates to, “If you watch a story and like it, then it’s a good film. If you think of something else while watching it, that’s fine too, you’re a different kind of audience, and I respect that. It’s fine. But the audience has never said anything like that to me.”
Yami’s next project
Fans saw Yami last in the comedy Dhoom Dhaam along with Pratik Gandhi. The film released on Netflix earlier this year. She will next be seen with Emraan Hashmi in Haq. It is inspired by the 1985 Shah Bano vs Ahmed Khan case. The film also features Vartika Singh, Danish Husain, and Sheeba Chadha. It is directed by Suparn S Varma, written by Reshu Nath, and produced by Vineet Jain. It is slated to release on November 7.
