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Manushi Chhillar: Not every project has to be the dream job, sometimes it just has to get you closer to it
Manushi Chhillar, as she poses for HT City Showstoppers. reflects on navigating a film career, learning to follow her instincts and not wait for a perfect role.
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Winning Miss World at 20 is quite the career head start. For Manushi Chhillar, it was also a passport to a world far bigger than pageantry. Almost a decade later, she is navigating acting, fashion and entrepreneurship, learning that life after a crown comes with its own plot twists, and not all of them are scripted.
If there is one thing she has learnt along the way, it is to trust her gut. When she first entered the film industry, the excitement of being new came with an eagerness to listen to those who knew the ropes. But experience, she says, has taught her that too many opinions can sometimes drown out the one that matters most: her own.
“When you are younger and you come into an industry which is so new for you, you are excited,” she says. “You start listening to a lot of people around you who come with a lot of experience, but you eventually develop a sense of your own. Whatever I have done, whatever has come from my heart and whatever I have chosen for myself, has always given me more joy.”
It is a philosophy that has proved useful in an industry where even the most well thought-out plans can come with a question mark. “It's such an unpredictable profession,” Chhillar says. Without the backing of a film industry family, she points out, there is no guarantee of what comes next. “You don't know when you're going to be starting your next film. It's not like someone's sitting and creating a project for you.”
For a newcomer, waiting for the perfect role can be a luxury few can afford. “I might have felt then, ‘I don't have the luxury to sit at home and wait for a big filmmaker to write this role specifically for me’,” she says. Sometimes, the sensible move is to take a project that gets you through the door rather than wait outside for the role of a lifetime. “So, not every project has to be the dream job. Sometimes, it just has to get you closer to it".
Her Miss World win also gave her something more tangible than a global platform: financial independence. Brand endorsements helped support her during the early years of acting, giving her the freedom to build a career without putting all her eggs in one cinematic basket. Entrepreneurship is now another way to create a safety net of her own—one that allows her to keep pursuing acting without asking every role to pay both the bills and the emotional dividends.
“I feel that it also gives me the opportunity to create something for myself, which in a way takes the pressure off acting,” she says. That does not mean she is any less invested in her craft. If anything, it gives her the breathing room to enjoy it. “You need to enjoy it if you're in an artistic profession.”
Her upcoming film with Vikrant Massey is one project that has her particularly excited. She describes it as one of the most interesting scripts she has read in Mumbai, and the experience has offered a behind-the-scenes education of its own. The production involved sophisticated technology she had not encountered on previous projects, prompting her to pay closer attention to the mechanics of filmmaking.
But it is the story's ability to keep audiences guessing that seems to have won her over most. “Till the very end you would. You are going to keep guessing, and it's only in the last few minutes when you realise what exactly is going on,” she says. If the film delivers on that promise, audiences may want to keep their theories and their phones aside until the credits roll.
Off screen, fashion is another arena where Chhillar is increasingly comfortable calling the shots. She is less interested in dressing for the approval of others, including fashion bloggers, and more focused on what makes her feel good. “Fashion is more about creating a look I truly like and enjoy wearing,” she says. It is a refreshingly straightforward approach in a world where an outfit can sometimes attract more analysis than the event it was worn to.
Her style staples are equally unfussy. Give her a basic T-shirt and jeans for comfort, or a black dress for an outing, and she is sorted. The black dress, in particular, has a permanent place in her wardrobe. “I have so many black dresses in different silhouettes, but it's always a black dress,” she says.
As Diwali approaches, Chhillar is also looking forward to celebrating in her family's new Mumbai home. Between exciting projects, entrepreneurial ambitions and a growing confidence in her own choices, there is plenty to feel festive about. The crown may have opened the first door, but these days, Manushi seems intent on choosing which ones to walk through herself.
