Mandana Karimi speaks out about her decision to quit acting: It’s hard to say no to money but…

Mandana Karimi reveals that acting was a job she never loved and since almost a year she has been turning down all offers.

Published on: Jan 19, 2025, 10:20:32 IST

By Rishabh Suri

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Iranian actor-model Mandana Karimi, who gained fame for her stint in Bigg Boss 9 before her Bollywood outings such as Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 (2016) and Thar (2022), has now shifted her focus to academia.

Also read: Mandana Karimi stages solo protest in Mumbai to raise voice about Iran, calls film industry's responses 'disappointing'

After studying interior design, she is actively working in the field and also serves as a visiting professor at various institutes.

"I became a model at such a young age and had to support myself but I always missed the fact that I couldn't go back to school," she shares, adding, "One of my friends owns an interior design firm and he asked if I want to see what they do. When I explored the field, I started enjoying it."

Finally in a career she enjoys, the 36-year-old admits, "Acting was a job that I never loved, nor this industry. I am grateful for the time I spent there, but it wasn't something I was hungry for or crazy about."

Since completing a year-long course in interior design, Karimi has been turning down modelling and acting offers.

"It is of course hard to say no to money but I still have casting director friends, who call me for auditions and I have to say I can't devote so much time. I have projects, events, and my school that I'm focused on currently," she shares.

Acknowledging this change from being an actor, to now going to school and a "doing a 9 to 5 job", she confesses: "I now finish my work in office, then come home, and go to school...

My life has changed so much. But I'm loving it."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rishabh Suri
Rishabh Suri is an Assistant Editor, film critic, and professional overthinker of plot points. He writes for HT City, keeping pace with an industry where news cycles expire long before the popcorn gets cold. He completed his graduation in English Honours from Kirori Mal College, followed by a Master’s degree in English Literature-effectively training his brain to over-analyse classic texts before applying those exact same skills to 3-hour Bollywood blockbusters. He got into the profession when he had barely graduated from college and has been at HT ever since. At HT, Rishabh reviews films with a simple rule: skip the dense academic jargon and get straight to the point. Beyond reviews, as Assistant Editor, he helps navigate the broader circus of showbiz, tracking everything from OTT shifts to sudden box office panics. In a beat driven by loud PR machinery and carefully scripted answers, Rishabh prefers cutting through the noise to focus on how stories get made and why trends shift. When he isn’t writing against a deadline, he is usually sitting in a dark theater, compulsively memorising dialogues. For Rishabh, analysing movies isn't just a day job- it’s a habit he couldn't turn off even if he tried.Read More

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