Niharika NM, who first made her mark as a content creator, took her career to the global stage in 2023 with a guest voice role in the American sitcom ‘Big Mouth Season 7’. Her acting journey began last year with the Tamil film ‘Perusu’, and she went on to star in ‘Mithra Mandali’ and ‘Idhayam Murali’. She’s now gearing up for her Bollywood debut, slated to hit screens on July 30.
Niharika NM opnes up on her early days in Bombay
The comedy film ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’ stars Raghav Juyal in the lead, with Niharika cast as his love interest. In an interaction with News18 about her move into films, she recalled, “When I had moved to Bombay three-four years ago, I spent three years training under a production house. I had gone to film school and I’ve a background in theatre.”“I definitely wanted to give acting a shot. I didn’t know how far it would go or what I exactly wanted to do. All I knew was that I was passionate about it and I enjoyed it,” she adds. Eventually, though, she chose to step away from pursuing Bollywood and shifted her focus to auditioning in the southern film industries instead, a move she credits to Hindi cinema’s unrealistic beauty standards.“I tried in Hindi films first but I didn’t enjoy the standards that were set for women – how they should look or how their skin tone should be. I thought that it’s not the space I should fight in. It was also a very crowded space,” Niharika says. She then went on to ink a three-film deal with Karthik Subbaraj’s production house, Stone Bench Films.
Niharika NM on her biggest regret
“But midway through my training process with them, I turned down really good south films which did wonders at the box office. I couldn’t believe it! I was bound by contract. That will remain one of my biggest regrets. But I’m happy for whoever did it. And once the contract ended, there was no stopping me. Then I phelo-ed like raita across films of different languages,” Niharika shares.
Niharika NM on facing rejection in the industry
The journey, however, was far from smooth for her. “There were so many reasons why I got rejected from films. It all sounds hilarious at this point,” she exclaims. Recalling an episode, she says, “There was one particular film I was supposed to do. It was being made by this great director. I grew up watching him. He handpicked me. I had auditioned for the part. The look test was done.”“The contract was sent to my house and I had signed it. There was this intimacy clause in it and I had told them that I’m not comfortable doing onscreen intimacy. They were fine with it and were planning on going ahead with a body double. But the actor wasn’t okay doing the scene with a body double. He wasn’t interested. It was his call. Then it became a situation of this or that,” Niharika adds.
More about ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’
The film follows Ajay Singh, a London dreamer convinced that he is destined to be Bollywood’s next big superstar. The narrative unfolds over one chaotic night as he chases fame through hilarious misadventures and big ambitions. It stars Raghav Juyal as Ajay Singh alongside Niharika NM, Sanjay Kapoor, Barkha Singh, Vivan Bhatena and Parvathy Omanakuttan.
