MS World International Ambassador Priya Paramita Paul shares her ordeal with the casting process in the industry

MS World International Ambassador Priya Paramita Paul has been giving auditions for quite some time now but nothing has worked out. Overall the beauty pageant winner has had a very bitter experience. Speaking more about it, she says, "I started immediately after completing my pageant in August. Since then I have been visiting all casting agencies and production houses for auditions. Initially I had very little confidence. Before my pageant, I didn’t even know how to face a camera or groom myself. Of course I have gone through courses on how to face the camera and work with the camera, what angle is best for you, etc. I thought when I approach these casting agencies, I will be accepted because I have experience and done courses. Also having a good portfolio is something which is a must in this field. If portfolios are good, then you are halfway there, even though if you are a fresher you will be accepted. And during my pageantry, I had my best portfolio shot and I knew how to groom myself and talk confidently.” She adds, "After my pageant one primary judgement that I was getting before giving the auditions was that I am a model and they don’t believe I can act. Whenever they ask about my experience, I get that smirk from everyone as they believe a model is just a dummy who wears nice clothes and gives nice expressions but cannot act. In fact I didn’t even get a chance to go through any auditions as soon as I submitted my profile. There was a blank response. People also started selling their acting schools to me without even seeing that I might be able to act.”

Models can’t act - this was a belief  many years ago. Do you feel that belief still exists?
“Yes I have experienced this. People judged me even before  giving me a script to act. There was an incident where the casting directors called me and spent 1 hour explaining why a model cannot be an actor and how difficult it is for a model to become an actor. The whole experience demotivated me a lot.” Recently Priya completed a course in acting because of the experience she had during auditions. Do you feel a course will give you a better understanding of acting?

Priya says, "Most people don’t understand that if someone doesn’t have a skill then that can be built. There are people who are blessed by birth and there are many actors right now in the industry who probably never had an acting background in the past and they worked on it and kept on improving themselves. Shah Rukh Khan is one of the examples. Many people are not aware of my life, how I changed my mental and physical health. I went through every training possible to win a pageant. So I went and joined the acting school as well to complete my acting course. I am happy that I have taken the course and the best part is I have learnt that acting is an ongoing process. If you complete the course it doesn’t mean you are a very good actor. During this course my trainers have been very kind and taught us everything from analysing a script to connecting with emotions and how to connect with the audience. I also gave my first theatre performance recently.”