There’s something about Chitrangda Singh that has always drawn the audience to her. Is it her persona that often takes risks on screen or her effortless, feminine glamour? Maybe both. Singh kicked off her career as a model before making her debut on the silver screen with Sudhir Mishra’s highly regarded political drama, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. Her piercing gaze and stronghold on the characters helped her to reinvent herself in glaringly different roles continuously—be it as an unexpected glam siren in Desi Boyz or working behind the camera as a producer for Soorma starring Diljit Dosanjh in 2018.
Over the years, these roles have shaped her and helped her grow as a person. “I feel acting is the best thing that could have happened to me. And I have often said that I feel like Sudhir Mishra introduced me to myself.” The actor further shared how acting helped her discover a part of herself, gave her a sense of satisfaction with who she is, and defined her purpose. She said, “I feel any creative field just really either forces you to or encourages you to grow, no matter whichever way you look at it”.
In 2021, Singh made her OTT debut with a gripping crime thriller, Bob Biswas, followed by Modern Love Mumbai and Gaslight. Talking about her journey with OTT platforms, she shares, “I think the format is definitely much tougher when it comes to your performance. You can’t get away with just making things look glamorous or adding some songs–you have to depend on the content. OTT is challenging and takes a lot of hard work, but I’ve enjoyed it.” Singh will soon be seen in Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee 2 on Netflix.
Over the years, Singh has been very vocal about the unrealistic beauty standards society has on what a ‘perfect’ woman looks like. “What we need to encourage as a society is that perfection is not being beautiful. Being interesting is beautiful. I think that is the kind of perfection that we should all aspire to have.”
Besides her on-screen work, Singh has a massive social media presence with over 2.5 million followers on Instagram. But she doesn’t believe in everything that appears in her FYP or the comments section of her posts! “Somebody said yesterday that social media is a war everyone’s fighting. It’s the platform for all kinds of battles, and everything is to be won or lost. But I think it’s how you look at it and how you want to use it; it’s got huge advantages and disadvantages. I use it because I’m in the industry, but I don’t think I let it run my life.” Singh is a big advocate of not changing yourself or your opinions according to what you see on social media.
We end the interview with a question about what has her excited for the next few months. “I’m almost wrapping up shooting for a web series. Then I’ll shoot for a commercial film that I haven’t done in a while. And hopefully, by the end of the year, we’ll start shooting for more feature films. It’s looking pretty good, and I am excited to do things differently this year.”
ELLE India Editor: Ainee Nizami Ahmedi; Photographer: Pretika Menon; Beauty Editor: Kannagi Desai; Lead Stylist: Komal Shetty; Asst. Art Director: Alekha Chugani; Cover Design: Saakshi Badani; Makeup: Séverine Perina; Hair: Madhav Treha; Bookings Coordinator: Anushka Patil; Assisted by: Vaishnavi Misra (Styling); Khushi Nagpal (Bookings); Artist’s PR Agency: Communiqué Film PR
