Smriti Kalra has steadily carved a niche for herself across television, films, and digital platforms, building a career defined by versatility and thoughtful choices. Best known for her performances in shows like Dil Sambhal Ja Zara and films such as Kaagaz 2, the actress continues to push boundaries with roles that challenge her as a performer.

EXCLUSIVE: Smriti Kalra opens up on reinvention and versatility; says, “All my roles are 180 degrees different”

Speaking about the roles she has taken on so far, Smriti emphasized her inclination towards characters that offer growth and complexity. “The deciding factor for wanting to play a particular role for me is that I find it challenging at the moment, and the second factor is whether playing this character helps me grow as an artist and if it gives me happiness. So, for me, all the roles I have played so far have been challenging as none of them is me, and yet all of them eventually become a part of me”.

Elaborating on the range of the characters she has portrayed, Smriti continued, “You pick in any characters I have played so far – an obese woman living in her head to an eighteen year old college girl questioning the societal setup, breaking it and living her dreams to a 24-year-old girl marrying her father’s friend to spite her mother using her sexuality as her weapon, to an alpha street smart con woman playing a woman of the present times- using social media as a tool to propel social causes, I have deliberately worked at playing roles that have no traces of the last one and if I may say, they are all 180 degree different from the previous and thus each one a challenge for me.”

Addressing her openness to working across mediums, she dismissed the notion of limiting herself to a particular format. “I am open to any and every project where I get to learn and grow, period. So, it can be in any medium. It’s a myth that people are now thinking that after doing films, I do not wish to do television. Give me a good script, a different, strong character, a challenging role. And I’m all set and eager to play it.”

On avoiding typecasting, Smriti highlighted patience and self-belief as key factors. “With extreme patience. We as actors are put into the cast of the last role we played, which is great! That’s an A1 stamp on its craft, of how well you played and lived the role. But the unfortunate part is that then we are cemented in that role by the audience and thus the casting agents”.

However, the actress insisted that performers are often easy to adapt and blend. “We artists are like water. Let us flow and take the form of the next vessel we inhabit. So, to break that cemented cast, you have to recalibrate, say no to the money walking in your door, have faith in your craft, do self-work, and wait patiently in search of your next ‘180-degree different role’. My body of work is a testimony to what I just said. I started by interning at a commerce TV channel, then moved into print, became a radio jockey, lent my voice to audiobooks, and acted across all three mediums. Secondly, have emotional resilience. It is not easy to sit, wait, search, and say no. But then, it’s a choice you make, a choice I make. That is how any actor achieves not being typecast and being versatile in our industry,” she shared.

When asked what she would like audiences to know about her beyond her work, she offered a reflective thought. “Like you, I too am volumes of stories untold. Like you, I too am iridescent”, she commented.

Discussing her career trajectory, Smriti reframed the idea of a “big step” as continuous growth. “A step is one foot of distance ahead. A step is a movement forward. When there is a movement ahead, there is no question of it being big or small, because you are moving ahead. And when you move ahead, you learn something new, something good happens, and you see and experience something new. So what is my next big step? I will repeat what I said earlier—anything and everything where I get to learn, where I get to explore more of the talent that God has bestowed upon me, and where I get to push myself, will be my next big step. And I’m looking forward to working on projects with teams, directors, writers, and producers who push me to get out of the shell that we all put ourselves in and to explore more of who we are.”

She also acknowledged how her television background has shaped her as an actor. “A 100% yes. Again, I speak from my experience. Television, as a medium, is like a newspaper. Every day, you have to print the news, no matter what. A journalist rushes to the field each day, come hail, come sandstorm, come any calamity or war, you have to report and print the news. The same applies to television, you have to telecast each day with episode banks being seldom, so it urges you to become resilient, look past the daily turbulences, quickly understand and learn the lines as the script is usually given minutes before you face the camera. So, your makeup is on, you’re rehearsing and learning the lines, listening to the directions, basically multitasking in a very high-octane environment, unlike in films and OTT, where you’re given a bound script beforehand.”

With a career built on conscious choices and a willingness to evolve, Smriti Kalra continues to position herself as an actor focused on craft over convention, embracing each new role as an opportunity to grow and redefine her artistic journey.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Kaagaz 2 actress Smriti Kalra on being a Hypnotherapist, “It was for understanding and educating myself more”

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