While she continues to steadily grow in her career, actress Hemal Dev says that she dreams of bagging the national award someday. The actress says that she wants to do this to see the feeling of pride on her parents’ faces, who mean the world to her.
“I have this one dream that I want to see myself winning the national award. That is one goal that I have set for myself and you’re going to watch me do that. It’s going to be a very beautiful feeling. I think everything I do is to see the feeling of pride on my parents’ face and that’s what I live for and work for. That is going to make my parents so proud,” she says.
She says that she is satisfied with the way her career has shaped up. “I’m definitely satisfied and happy and I have a lot of gratitude for the way my career has shaped up because it’s just a three-year-long career and I happen to be doing quite some work. I have been very fortunate to have my hand in Telugu Industry, Hindi and Marathi Industry as well and now I’m exploring more options in Tamil and Kannada. So, I feel that it’s a very flourishing career for somebody who comes from a small town and did not absolutely have a single contact here. I’m happy with the way I’m growing,” she says.
Talking about how she got into acting, Hemal says, “Career is an extremely important thing in my life. I think it’s one of the topmost priorities for me. In fact, I believe my career shapes my personality and my being. So, I really put my career foremost in my life. I did not know that I always wanted to be an actor. I think it came to me much later in life when I shot for my first film. I did beauty contests and started getting a lot of offers from the Marathi film industry and the Telugu film industry as well. I would be in the newspapers for the titles that I have won; Miss University, Miss Earth, Miss South India and Miss India Explicit. I had a lot of people calling my mom regarding projects and I took up my first Marathi film, the one I did with Sachin Pilgaonkar sir. That is the moment when I knew that I’m born to be an actor because it was an effortless process for me. The feedback that I received for my film was phenomenal and they loved my work. I realised that I enjoyed doing it and I feel the most alive by acting in front of the camera.”
However, the journey wasn’t easy after her first film. “Maybe because I did not always plan on doing this, I did not have any insecurities and that was the beauty of it. When I went in front of the camera for the first time for my first film, it was a fresh experience. I was doing it to enjoy the experience and also to understand that it is important to take one day at a time. So, I have been very fortunate to not face any kind of insecurities. Struggles, of course, were there. After my first film was when I would say my real struggle started. The journey was not about the first film, it was about proving a point that I am a good actor. So, I was working on becoming a better artist, becoming a better performer. I believe that this industry comes with the most amount of struggles because you’re never off duty, you’re on duty even when you’re not in front of the camera. So, you’ve to be 24/7 working towards becoming a better actor. Let it be the food you eat, let it be the workout that you do, be the study you do on your craft, character. I definitely will not disregard the kind of struggles that we actors face. I was very fortunate to not have any insecurities. I was always a very confident person because I believe perfection is beauty. Even if I know it’s beautiful because God has made me like this,” she says.
