‘Jubilee’ actor Wamiqa Gabbi: ‘When Niloufer’s role came back to me, I was so happy’

I am not a trained actor. I have learnt on the job, through work experience. My process and the challenge for me when finding my character is to understand her core. Once I know the core, then everything falls into place. Niloufer, her era and that world are very different from our world and life today. At first, I could not understand this. I think this takes a while with every new character. But as I began to understand her, bit by bit, I felt more and more relaxed. And yes, she is so many people at once. She is a different girl with Walia, a different person with Jay Khanna, different with Jamshed, and different with Madan Kumar. And then I realised this is how we are in real life as well. Of course, Niloufer is a little extra and because she doesn’t get classified as a ‘good girl’ by society, therefore she also doesn’t have the pressure to behave like a ‘good girl’. All her life she has tackled men — from her time in a kotha (brothel) in Lucknow, and I felt that is where she got her acting experience. My challenge was to understand who Niloufer was and what was her life before you see her for the very first time, in that mujra scene. Once I figured that out then I knew I had found Niloufer.

Who were your references for getting the body language and nuances of a girl from Lucknow who becomes a film star in Bombay in the 1950s?

There was no reference point as such for Niloufer. She was a tawaif (courtesan) in Lucknow. She gets to Bombay and makes her way to the film industry and then she becomes an actor. But for the songs and the style of acting of that era — the nuances, mannerisms, gestures, flavour and the innocence one sees in the eyes — I watched many songs, performances and scenes of actresses like Madhubala, Nutan, Nargis and others to bring those into the series.

Jubilee director Vikramaditya Motwane has spoken about how you were not the first choice for the part of Niloufer, and he came back to you much later with the role. How did you land the part?

When she is in the kotha, Niloufer is so entertaining and fun. She’s the queen, but she’s also an elegant, graceful dancer. When he saw me for the first time, he saw elegance, but I don’t think he saw all of Niloufer’s traits. Then, during the pandemic, we were all at home entertaining ourselves, making content, and Vikram sir saw my Instagram where I was making reels and lip-synching to songs. That’s when he saw the other side of Niloufer and he thought I was funny and fitted the role. I loved doing the audition and look test and, of course, I was disappointed to be rejected, but when the role unexpectedly came back to me, I was so happy.

What was it like with this interesting ensemble of co-stars?

It was great fun. We were all equally excited about the show. This is not the kind of series or a subject that is made every day. On the set, you felt transported to another era. I am so happy to have met Sidhant (Gupta). We are very close friends and we had lovely long conversations about craft. Aparshakti (Khurana) is a sweetheart and Ram Kapoor is such a gentleman. We have an intimate scene in a car and he made me feel so comfortable because I have not done a lot of intimate scenes. When you work with actors like this, you understand how kind and how fun they are to work with. Ram sir was everyone’s favourite. There was so much to learn from Prosenjit (Chatterjee) sir. In spite of the hundreds of films he has done, even today he is so excited to work even with a new director. He is ready to take risks. I hope I am as excited and trusting as him when I have built such a bank of experiences.

What are your future work projects and do you intend to continue working in films across languages?

I am just very lucky to be doing everything that I am doing in my life right now. I did Modern Love: Mumbai (2022, series) and Fursat (2023, short film) with Vishal Bhardwaj and completed Khufiya with him. We are currently working on Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley. Working with Vishal sir is the best acting training. The kinds of roles I am getting, I am just so grateful. It’s not possible for someone like me who is from Chandigarh, whose parents are from Punjab and have no filmy background, so I would say it is luck and I think I just wanted this. I was so hungry to learn more and to do better. I felt the universe made it happen, where I am getting to work with directors like Vikram sir and Vishal sir. As for other languages — I will never stop doing films and they could be across languages. The language does not matter, what matters is the character and the story which I need to believe will be fun to do. Life is short and I want to spend every day on a set where I am happiest and having the best time.