Alaya F: I had to find a way to stay relevant and visible and keep reminding people that I exist FilmyMeet

In recent times, many actors including Abhishek Banerjee and Aahana S Kumra have called out social media influencers coming to showbiz and taking over acting jobs. However, for Alaya F the journey has been reversed. She first became an actor and then owing to the circumstances, went on to become an influencer.

Talking about it, she says, “The world shut down immediately after my first film’s release (Jawaani Jaaneman, 2020). I had to find a way to stay relevant and visible and keep reminding people that I exist. During that phase, social media helped me do that.” The 26-year-old adds that social media has indeed been a “blessing for actors”. She says, “You don’t need to do films just for money, you can do it for passion because you have social media to take care of the money aspect.”

Alaya has had a mixed bag of a year as while Srikanth worked at the box office, her commercial outing Bade Miyan Chote Miyan faltered. Ask her about dealing with the failure and she says, “In this industry, your circumstances, positioning and reality keeps changing. So, the only constant in my life is change and I have gotten a lot more comfortable with it now. Initially, it used to make me anxious and get me under the pressure of being in this race of proving something. But now, I have become calmer about it. I want to make more thoughtful choices now.”

Reflecting on Srikanth’s success Alaya says, “Everyone on Srikanth was so easy, respectful and talented. It was all heart and when the audience received it the same way, it felt fulfilling. It was the underdog, and I felt so much pride when it did well as I love an underdog story, and I root for it.” The actor adds that she has always felt like an underdog in her career as well: “I still feel like an underdog all the time but it’s great as everyone loves an underdog story. I have so much yet to prove and to show, and that makes me really excited for the whole journey.”