In an exclusive interview with L'utopia, the versatile Anushka Kaushik, a woman of many talents, unveils her journey into being an actor and an influencer. She strongly believes in cherishing the process and having fun as the recipe for great content.
Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Anushka always dreamt of being an actor. During her academics, she started partaking in professional theatre. Which eventually led her to give auditions. Soon featuring in films like 'SP Chauhan' and 'Ujda Chaman' to cement her acting career, Anushka has now been featured in over 250+ videos, including YouTube sketches and mini-shows with over 300m + views.
Already proven herself as a force to be reckoned with, she has impressed everyone with her performance in Netflix's movie 'Thar' alongside Anil Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor, and Satish Kaushik. Her memorable performances include roles in 'Ghar Waapsi' on Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime's original series 'Crash Course.' She has also been hugely appreciated for her challenging and impeccable portrayal of a rape victim in 'Maharani S2' alongside Huma Qureshi. Within less than a year in the mainstream industry, the talented actress has earned multiple accolades for her acting, including a Filmfare OTT nomination for best actor.
Beyond her acting prowess, Anushka wholeheartedly embraces her role as a content creator. Speaking with L'utopia, Anushka shares her initial inspirations from acting to creating content. What started her journey as a mere audience traversed her into becoming a creator with half a million followers on her Instagram. By understanding what she really wanted to make, Anushka now cherishes the internal joy of creating content and sharing it with her audience.
When asked about her process for generating ideas, Anushka draws the line with relatability. Expressing that there is always a choice—in creating what she enjoys and what appeases a mass audience. She believes in narrowing both to make it enjoyable.
She goes on to speak about her favorite genre. As an actor, Anushka enjoys working on scripts that entails thrill, drama, and suspense sequences. In short-form content, like reels, she rejoices in watching and creating fun and light-hearted content.
In recalling "not fun but a sad behind-the-scenes moment," Anushka remembers passing her phone to a teammate to film her conversation with Anil Kapoor at an award function during a time crunch. But later, she discovered that the person had not even recorded the interaction, which still haunts her as a sad memory.
Passionately revealing her favorite influencers, Anushka mentions RJ Abhinav, Ashish Chanchlani, Prajakta Koli, Srishtipatch, and many more. She shows her genuine appreciation for other creators by connecting and appreciating them through direct messages.
Trailing her Instagram story, she talks about her journey from acting on a sketch for tvf timeliners on youtube that went viral. As she gained traction, she remembers having a private account, which later became this huge platform for fun and engaging content. As Instagram introduced reels, she recalls watching a lot of content which, in turn, paved the way for her creative journey. That's when she says she felt like making content on Instagram.
On sharing her experience, Anushka advises someone who wants to create content on Instagram: "Enjoy creating content that you like, and don't just do it because everyone else is doing it." She also blends in the advice for finding balance while creating content; she believes if one can make it their lifestyle, it doesn't burden them as "work" but rather will enjoy creating in and itself.
Today, Anushka feels fortunate and blessed to work with successful and renowned filmmakers, performing lead character roles and winning hearts. In her upcoming projects, she has wrapped shooting for a feature film 'Patna Shukla' under Arbaaz Khan production alongside Satish Kaushik, Raveena Tandon, and Chandan Roy Sanyal. Additionally, she has also shot for a Netflix Anthology and another feature film to be announced soon.
Anushka is a rising star. She hones her skills by having fun with them. At such a young age, she understands the dynamic nature of platforms and uses them to spread relatable content that evokes happiness and joy.
