Rytasha Rathore lives life on her own terms
Living life on her own terms and taking negative comments on the chin is how Rytasha Rathore survives the film industry
Acting was the only thing Rytasha Rathore enjoyed at school. “It was raison d’être and that’s why I decided to act professionally,” says Rytasha Rathore who most recently starred in Comedy Premier League (CPL).
“The truth is I wasn’t good at anything else. My years at school, while wonderful, were riddled with insecurities about how I looked, fitting in, boy drama, you know the normal teenage stuff. I was a smart student but absolutely detested studying the way our education system made us,” reflects Rytasha who is best known for appearing in the TV show ‘Bado Bahu’ and as one of Masaba Gupta’s friend in the Netflix series ‘Masaba Masaba’.
Born in Singapore, she moved to Mumbai as a child and found a calling in school plays. The fact that she doesn’t exactly fit the beauty standards of the cut-throat industry doesn’t bother her. Neither does the fact that she has unwittingly become a body positivity icon among her social media followers.
“Honestly, I’m not even body positive on most days. Seeing someone who looks like me living their best life is in itself shocking for people who are so conditioned by “societally accepted” beauty notions. Because how dare a fat girl own her worth, her power, her beauty, her sexuality? I work out for my mental health, I work so I can live out my ambition and my only goal is to be the best version of me, mentally, emotionally and spiritually first,” reveals Rytasha.
Talking about her experience of working in CPL, she says, “Comedy Premier League felt like studying for the board exams, working on a college group project and being in the amazing race. I’ve never done anything like it before. We were breathing, eating, crying and shi****g jokes for 14 days. It was nuts. My brain was overstimulated but in a good way.”
Now that she cut her teeth on well-written acting roles, she wants to play “all kinds of different people. Humble brag, I’d be great at everything”. And the list of directors she wants to work with is pretty long. “Rohena Gera, Mira Nair, Sriram Raghavan, Zoya Akhtar, Taika Waititi, Wes Anderson and lots more I guess — it’s hard to decide,” adds Rytasha.
She is happy with the projects she has worked on this past year and is hopeful the next year will be equally rewarding. “I did a cameo for a very exciting show helmed by one of my favourite directors. It truly was a dream come true working with her. Also, a very exciting independent project which I just can’t wait to start shooting for!”
