People think they can take me for a ride: Sargun on working in a male-dominated industry

Actor-producer Sargun Mehta has often been applauded for not following the herd and making unconventional choices. Revelling in the box office success of her recent release Babe Bhangra Paunde Ne, she shares that her choices, including taking up production, come with their own share of challenges.

As a woman working in an industry that’s predominantly rules by men, sometimes you are taken lightly. But I try and see it as a good thing. When they thought I didn’t know anything and they thought they were taking me for a ride, i knew a little more. I had done my research and therefore took them up by surprise. And that’s how I win. I strongly believe, everything that you feel is your weak point, should be turned the other way round to make it your strength. So when they take you lightly, you can take them for a ride,” she says.

Mehta is quick to point out that things are same for men as well. “May be in a different way but they face challenges on the way. The reason is, we live in a world where people cannot see you win,” says the producer of TV shows Swaran Ghar, Udaariyaan.

Ask what gives her an edge over other producers, Mehta tells us, “Producers who are not just investing money but are creatively involved, add a lot more to the film. They know the project in and out and they understand that more needs to be spent here. It’s not just about the money for them but the overall result. Even with the promotion of the film, they know what to do and what would be the best way to do it. So that’s why I prefer to produce my films.”

Being new in the business, which has immense money on stake, involves a lot of pressure. In an ideal scenario, one would look for people for advice, but Mehta does not. She says, “When people are advising, I keep my ears shut. It might sound terrible, but that’s the truth. How I take advice is very different. I basically am someone who has learned on the job. I kept on asking questions while working as an actor. For the last 5 years, I have been jotting my point about how I want to do it. Now when I watch my film that I have produced and see what all went wrong or what I did better, I ask the questions. I don’t like advice that’s free flowing. It takes me nowhere. I guess, everyone has a different way of functioning and for me, asking for techniques to improve is what works but that’s about it.”

She adds that taking advice from outsiders, who are not even part of the film does not make sense to her. “They do not even know what exactly I want from the film, so how can they decide the course of action for it.”