“I no longer need benchmarks to define myself as an actor,” says Yami Gautam. Eight months after the birth of her son Vedavid, the actor returns to the screens with the quirky comedy Dhoom Dhaam on Netflix. “I am constantly trying to break patterns. My aim is to look for something new, and not get stuck doing the routine genres,” she says.Dhoom Dhaam, the story of a couple whose wedding night turns chaotic, also stars Scam 1992 actor Pratik Gandhi. Both actors, who have passed the litmus test with their body of work, say the key is to not get comfortable.Yami, who helmed one of the biggest successes of 2024 — Article 370 — proving that women-led narratives are as viable as male-oriented ones at the box office, says it has been about defying perceptions. “My casting in a film is dependent on someone’s perception of me. How good I am as an actor is different. We all know how casting is done, perceptions are formed. So at the end of the day, it is for me to know what I am looking for and chase that. I found self-expression through the kind of work I kept looking for and signing. I am just being consistent, and looking for projects with substance, where I am pivotal to the story, not an ornament.”It’s been 13 years since Yami made her debut in Vicky Donor. She says the journey has been one of revelations. “I always thought people in Mumbai lived in sea-facing homes, and it was all very glamorous, only to realise it was anything but that.”Both Pratik and Yami confess it’s only during movie promotions they feel the need to be active on social media. Yami calls stardom a well-orchestrated mechanism now, in comparison to what it was in the past. “Where do we now see the madness and craze of the 90s when people spotted stars? Our generation doesn’t have that at all. You are told where the paps are and get clicked. So who is one catering to as actors – the industry or the audience? The public at large wants to see your work. The curated images do not translate as box office earnings or subscriptions,” she says.Yami married filmmaker Aditya Dhar in 2021 and gave birth to their son in May 2024. The constant media scrutiny of star kids has had serious repercussions in the past. The actor says motherhood is beyond the glossy images one sees on social media, and her biggest challenge and responsibility as a mother is to keep her son away from the spotlight. “I am not exposing my son to either the phone screen or social media. I’m not judging anyone, but I don’t want my son to have access to any of this. I know what this kind of exposure can do. I know we cannot avoid it completely, but I am going to delay it as much as I can, so that he can enjoy life as much as my generation did without these smart gadgets,” she asserts.
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