Sobhita Dhulipala says being an outsider in film industry was very intimidating, recalls having no godfather to save her

Sobhita Dhulipala says entering the film industry without connections was intimidating, with her modelling background sometimes working against her.

Breaking into the Indian film industry without a godfather or industry connections can be an intimidating experience for outsiders, who often have to find their feet without any guidance or support. In a recent interview with GQ India, actor Sobhita Dhulipala opened up about her own struggles as an outsider and recalled how difficult it was to navigate the industry without anyone to guide her.

Sobhita Dhulipala talks about entering the film industry as an outsider.

Sobhita Dhulipala talks about being an outsider

Sobhita moved from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai for college while pursuing modelling. She won the Miss India Earth pageant in 2013, hoping it would help her enter runway modelling and eventually films. However, she revealed that the win did not work in her favour, as her pageant background was held against her during runway auditions, while being a model became a disadvantage when she auditioned for films.

Sobhita then spoke about her experience as an outsider in the film industry and said, "When I was in college, I would look at the covers of magazines like GQ and Vogue, and I thought that couldn’t happen for someone like me, to belong in a sphere like this. I didn’t have a godfather or a godmother coming to save me. As an outsider, you’re just trying to figure it out; there’s no knowledge or guidance. It’s very intimidating.”

After several auditions, she landed her first role in Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0, which took her to the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Reflecting on how her journey gradually unfolded, Sobhita said she felt fortunate to have landed roles she was proud of and projects that allowed her to tell stories she believed in. She added, “I went to so many auditions, and then I got my first part. I went to Cannes, I got to meet a whole bunch of very bright people… You keep learning, and then something cracks. When it happens, you realise anyone can do anything, that this is a circus, and we are all just crazy, excited, creative lunatics. You realise you don’t need anyone’s validation, and that realisation sets you free. There’s so much joy beyond the need to be told that you’re good enough. But it takes courage, work and time.”

About Sobhita Dhulipala

Sobhita made her acting debut with Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 in 2016, in which she starred alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal. She subsequently appeared in films such as Chef, Kaalakaandi and the Telugu spy thriller Goodachari. In 2019, she gained wider recognition for playing Tara Khanna in the Amazon Prime Video series Made in Heaven, which ran for two seasons.

She went on to work across languages, featuring in Malayalam films such as Moothon and Kurup, the Telugu film Major, and Mani Ratnam's Tamil period dramas Ponniyin Selvan: I and Ponniyin Selvan: II. She also appeared in the series Bard of Blood and The Night Manager. In 2024, she made her Hollywood debut with Dev Patel's action thriller Monkey Man, followed by the Hindi film Love, Sitara.