#WhereAreThey Series: I want to focus on my career in health and wellness, says Black actor Ayesha Kapur

Ayesha Kapur, who starred in 2005 film Black as a child actor, is now an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She reveals why she stayed away from Bollywood, adds she is still open to acting.

It was a dream debut — a dream role with a dream cast — for Ayesha Kapur, who played a blind, deaf and mute girl in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black in 2005, sharing screen space with actor Amitabh Bachchan. But other than that and a role in Sikandar (2009) as a child actor, Kapur has stayed away from films till date.

Ayesha Kapur starred in Black as a child actor.

Talking about her life post Black, the 27-year-old, who grew up in Auroville, says, “People back in Auroville don’t really watch films. I didn’t grow up watching Bollywood films, it is very multicultural. It wasn’t the same as growing up in Delhi or Mumbai. People didn’t make a big deal about me having been in Black and being famous. I remember that only when I’d go to Pondicherry people would recognise me and take autographs… and it would be embarrassing.”

She admits that her upbringing was different that is why she never let fame and money go to her head. “At Auroville you don’t brag about fame and money as you don’t want t come across as a showy person. For me it was a little overwhelming navigating all that. But I am grateful for the opportunity to do the film,” she adds.

“It was a dream role for me. The film was both in Hindi and English, something I was very comfortable with as English is not my first language…. I had a three-film contract with the production house and then the film got shelved and I broke the contract. My parents then insisted that I had to go to college and I went back to studies,” shares Kapur, who now an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.

Currently based in Goa, she says living outside Auroville made her realise how difficult it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle on a daily basis.

“That also made me realise that I want to be in this field and embrace health and wellness. I graduated last year from Columbia University with Sociology and I did a year long health and nutrition course. I want to share that with people. I live in Goa now and help people achieve their health goals and be their healthier self,” explains Kapur, who also is the co-founder of an accessory company with her mother.

However, she admits there is still love left for acting. “My primary focus is the health and wellness field. But I am open to acting. I have not signed any agent yet. I have had people approach me but nothing has materialised. I would only like to go through with it with the right kind of role,” she concludes.