Sanya Malhotra has learnt to protect her mental health: I manage to draw a line between real and reel now

The actor talks about how she has learnt to detach from the characters she plays as some characters and their gruelling journeys took a toll on her

A little over five years into the film industry, actor Sanya Malhotra has finally learnt to separate the real and the reel. Talking about how some characters and their gruelling journeys took a toll on her, she tells us, “I don’t want to sound like a sadist but I was the kind of actor who would treat their emotions, especially pain as her own, so as to deliver a believable performance. When I play a character for a long time, I start thinking, talking and behaving like them.”

Sanya Malhotra

While she acknowledges the need to detach the real from the reel, the 30-year-old says that it won’t stop her from empathising with her characters. “I need to understand where they’re coming from. My character in Love Hostel was emotionally overwhelming but I took that up as a challenge and motivated myself to do my best. I feel that brings out the best in me. As an actor, that’s what is emotionally and mentally satisfying for me,” she elaborates.

But this experience was so overwhelming that it nudged Malhotra to speak to her therapist about it: “During the shoot, I remember not being able to sleep at night and feeling uneasy all day. In fact, I remember breaking down on the sets of the film one day. That’s when I spoke to my therapist.”