Hetal Yadav: There was too much competition and in-house politics

Actor-producer Hetal Yadav, who has been in the field of choreography for years, prefers calling herself a technician first.

“For me once a technician always a technician! I joined the industry in late 90s as an assistant to Ganesh Acharya followed by my guru Nimesh Bhatt who taught me choreography. I went on choreographing films as an associate for over a decade till destiny got me into acting. I have done 30 plus shows so far. You can say, I chose choreography as a profession but acting picked me,” says the Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008), Barrister Babu (2020) and Kashibai Bajirao Ballal (2021) actor.

Yadav asserts that she learnt it the hard way as it was very tough for her when she started.

“There was too much competition and in-house politics involved. I was so naïve that unknowingly I let many opportunities slip out of my hand. Today, the youngsters are well prepared and pre-plan everything. Whereas, in my case, I started to understand situations pretty late — that was more the reason that I took time to gain recognition.”

Yadav doesn’t want to give away choreography. “It has taken a back seat as my acting career is thriving and I have good work on my plate. But the choreographer in me refuses to sleep so I continue doing projects off and on. I have choreographed a couple of dancing sequence in the shows I act including Aladdin and Jaat Na Poocho Prem Ki,” says Yadav.

Currently, seen playing an important role on TV after her OTT outing Home. “Things are looking up for me with my ongoing show Imlie doing well. I have also donned the hat of a co-producer for the remakes of the blockbuster film Queen in four regional languages with different actors including Kajal Aggarwal, Tammanah Bhatia, Parul Yadav playing titular roles in their respective projects. The films are set to release next year.”