New Delhi:
At the NDTV Yuva Conclave session titled “Aaj Ka Yuva Sitara”, actor Sanya Malhotra opened up about completing 10 years in the film industry this year, the learnings so far and the journey ahead.
On The Kind Of Scripts Coming Her Way
On being asked if she wants to do classic films or the regulars, Sanya Malhotra says, “It’s a mix of both. As an actor, I don’t want to restrict myself or be in a box and be comfortable with doing things that I have already done. Something that excites me is experimenting with my roles, with my scripts. Hence, I have done films like Mrs, Pagglait, Dangal. And also because my first film, I think my debut was with Dangal, in which main ne baal kaartein, wrestling seekhi. So, because debut aisa tha, it could also be a conditioning for me as an actor to experiment. And of course, I’m very, very blessed. I get really good scripts that I cannot say no to.”
On Audience Expectations
Considering the versatility that Sanya Malhotra has shown so far, the audience does have certain expectations of her always being unique.
Does that come off as too much pressure?
Sanya Malhotra says, “No, there’s no pressure as such. I know that I’m not perfect. And I know that from experimenting or taking risks? No, not at all. I am not afraid of taking risks.”
On Collaborating With Diljit Dosanjh
Sanya Malhotra collaborated with Diljit Dosanjh for the song Charmer in his 2025 music video. The song quickly gained momentum on social media and was featured on his studio album Aura.
She had also worked with him in a Coca-Cola campaign.
Sanya Malhotra recalls the experience, “Before we did that music video, I did an ad with him. And he entered and told me, Aap ne na mere gaane pe dance reel kari. Aur ho gaana hai toh gaaya. Now in my mind, I was like, Gaana hai toh, music video karne ka hai. Sweet really cute. But that, of course, I didn’t tell him that. I said, Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. And then I asked, Kare hum Charmer nahi? And after a few weeks, I got this opportunity.”
She continues, “He said, I have a song. And if I would like to do the music video with him. This was perfect, because I absolutely love his music and I love dancing to it. Because I’ve never thought I’d get to do a music video with him. We shot that music video in one day. The choreography is by Yash-amazing. I danced on heels for the first time ever and I absolutely loved it.”
On A Co-Actor So Far Who Imparted A Valuable Lesson
Sanya Malhotra recalls something deeply fulfilling that she learnt from her Photograph co-star Geetanjali Kulkarni.
She says, “I have learned a very important thing about acting from her, which is backstory. The first day of our meetings together, because she was playing my house help, she got a saree to wear, bangles, bindi, a playlist-as my character-and she didn’t even sit up. She was sitting down. She had like everything planned about her character, which kind of moved me because Dangal mein wrestling helped us a lot to get into the character. That physicality and dialect was naturally ho gaya tha.“
She continues, “But in this one, because it was so emotionally heavy, this film-when I saw her, I was like, I need to do this too. And till date, I do it for all my characters. Also, scent is something really important to me. So all my characters have a different scent. So there are times when I put a perfume and I feel like, say, Meenakshi from Meenakshi Sundareshwar. It takes me back. Even songs. The kind of music I listen to, it changes. I write like my characters. For Pagglait, I used to write poems and I can’t write anything. To be honest, my writing is… I don’t think so. It’s comprehensible. It’s comprehensible to me. But as my character, if I used to write as Sandhya, it used to make sense. So I do that till date. So thanks to Geetanjali that I got inspired by her.”
One Moment In Her Career That Made Her Confident
Sanya Malhotra spoke about her 2024 film Mrs, which was a moment in her career where she felt things would now change-that there was a certain development that might take place.
Sanya Malhotra says, “Mrs, it gave me a lot of confidence. I do feel it moves me whenever I meet a woman and she tells me that this is my story. I’ve been through it or I’m going through it. I don’t want anyone to relate to that part of Richa’s life, but it really makes me happy because as an audience, when I see a character on screen that I can relate to that resonates, it just makes you feel seen and important. And Richa was such a character. Like women saw themselves in her and related a lot with her journey. I hope it has inspired a lot of women.”
One Advice To The Sanya Malhotra Who Debuted In 2016
Sanya Malhotra quips that she would not like to give any advice to the 2016 Sanya, and that she is proud of her past self.
The actress says, “I would not tell her anything. I’m so proud of my 2016 self. I’m so proud of my past self. I have no advice for her. I’ll tell her, you’ve come a really long way. So if I give her advice and I’ll tell her, skip this, don’t do that-I don’t know, I might be snatching an opportunity from her to learn something new. So I have no advice.”
Background
Born on February 25, 1992, Sanya Malhotra is a Delhi girl born into a Punjabi family. She forayed into Bollywood with her blockbuster debut in Dangal alongside Aamir Khan and Fatima Sana Shaikh in 2016.
She is also a trained contemporary and ballet dancer.
She moved to Mumbai to pursue acting, eventually starting with auditions for commercials. She even participated in Dance India Dance in 2013, and reached the top 100.
Some of her most notable films include Badhaai Ho (2018), Pataakha (2018), Photograph (2019), Shakuntala Devi (2020), Ludo (2020), Pagglait (2021), Love Hostel (2022), and Jawan (2023).
In 2025, she was lauded for her performance in Mrs, which is a Hindi remake of The Great Indian Kitchen. Receiving several accolades, the film showcased her versatility.
Her most recent work is the OTT release Toaster, a dark comedy where she starred alongside Rajkummar Rao.
She also made her debut as an entrepreneur in June 2025 with her premium wellness brand, Bree Matcha. She has been actively involved in building the brand, which offers sustainably sourced and high-quality matcha from Kagoshima, Japan.
