There was a Yami time she almost gave up on her dream entirely. Before her National Award wins and all the praise for Article 370 and Haq, she was stuck wondering whether Bollywood was even the right place for her.
In a recent interview, Yami talked about the roughest patch of her career, she was so close to leaving Mumbai and heading back to her hometown in Himachal Pradesh. If fate hadn’t stepped in, she’d probably be somewhere else right now. Talking to Filmfare, Yami opened up about what happened after her big debut in Vicky Donor back in 2012. The movie was a huge hit, both with critics and at the box office, but the way people responded shocked her. The opportunities she hoped for just didn’t show up.
Instead of being seen as an actor, she kept hearing about how her entry wasn’t ‘conventional.’ She said, “When Vicky Donor worked, I really thought people would just see me as an actor. But all I heard was how mine wasn’t a ‘conventional launch.’ I kept wondering, ‘What does that even mean?’ Apparently, I hadn’t been introduced like the typical heroine.” That attitude stuck to her career and started affecting the way she picked roles. Trying to prove herself, she took on films she wasn’t totally confident about, believing visibility mattered more than waiting for the right part, things got so bad, she reached a point where she actually decided to quit. Yami said that just before she landed roles in Uri: The Surgical Strike and Bala, she was done with acting. She planned to go back to Himachal Pradesh, settle down on her family’s farmland, and start something entirely new. “Just before Uri and Bala, I was ready to leave the industry. I thought I’d return home to Himachal. We’ve got farmland. I imagined a totally different life. My parents were great, they just said, ‘Come home,'” she remembered.
What changed everything for Yami?
Uri and Bala came out and both movies received great response, suddenly, Yami was back in the spotlight, almost overnight. Looking back, she’s realized the biggest lesson “Fear is your biggest enemy. The day I stopped saying yes because I was afraid of becoming ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ I felt free. I’d rather walk away than do work I don’t care about. That choice changed everything for me,” she said. Now, Yami’s built her own space by picking meaningful roles instead of chasing typical Bollywood fame. Movies like A Thursday, OMG 2, Article 370, and Haq, all feature strong characters she believes in. Now she’s married to Aditya Dhar, mother to a boy while also still featuring in incredible roles and stories alongside the new chapter she’s enjoying.