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Actor Alaya F’s fascination with fashion started at home as growing up, she saw her mom, actor Pooja Bedi being her glam best for the screen. “I used to find it fascinating seeing my mum get dressed up and looking pretty. Things were very different then as my mom would wear a lot of her own clothes on screen. I loved the entire process of her getting glammed up and it used to feel so exciting. So, by default I was very particular about how I looked,” she says.
Reflecting on her sense of style, Alaya admits, “My fashion sense in my youth was very atrangi, but I have always had a strong opinion about it,” adding, “My style always fluctuates between very safe or very out there. It is constantly changing. I like to have fun with my style, play around and take risks. My fashion sense is versatile.”
Alaya debuted in 2020 with Jawaani Jaaneman and while she was fascinated by Bollywood fashion growing up because of her mother, when she decided to become an actor, fashion took a backseat. She shares, “I focused too much on the craft aspect of it that I was unbothered about how I would look in front of the camera. The touch ups between takes would upset me. As I wasn’t so caught up about how I was looking, it allowed me to just act and be natural in front of the camera.” However, with experience her view has evolved: “As I feel a part of the industry more today, I realise that even while you are trying to be natural and act more authentically, how you look and present yourself is also very important.”
Her non-filmy persona initially even pushed her acting career in a positive way. “I did not grow up filmy at all and a lot of directors liked that about me when I started. They found it to be my strength as when you grow up idolising someone, you use them as references and get a hint of them in your acting. But since I wasn’t a Bollywood buff, I didn’t have many references. So, every time I was on screen, it never felt like any other actor,” she says, adding, “Although now I am a full filmy girl.”
In her four years in the industry, the 26-year-old has done some credible work in Freddy (2022), U-Turn (2023) and Srikanth. But it hasn’t been an easy journey for her. “This industry is a hard place to survive. Before becoming an actor, I thought the hardest thing would be getting my first film and proving myself which it was. After my first film went well, I thought I had proven myself. But then I had to start all over again as COVID Lockdown shut everything. But it taught me that I am a fighter. I feel very proud of myself as I have been able to be authentic to myself in this process. No matter what happens, I will find a way to bounce back and keep fighting, and that gives me peace,” she ends.
