Amrita Puri, our guest this week on #HowIMadeIt, is now doing fairly well for herself but not before having covered a long road, that stretched up to 10 years. She’s candid from the word ‘go’ right till the end where she conveys that she still has her fair share of insecurities.

Amrita’s journey began even before she landed up a good, meaty role in Sonam Kapoor‘s home production ‘Aisha’ (2010). “I was auditioning for two full years before I landed ‘Aisha’. It wasn’t easy. And it’s not that films start to flow, once you do one. You have to continue auditioning to land a role. I quite agree with Aahana Kumra telling ETimes on #HowIMadeIt that she would like to see all actors on a level-playing field,” she points out.

As Amrita got starry-eyed reading the script of ‘Aisha’, papa Puri sat beside her. “Daddy was apprehensive about me taking movies as a career,” she says. After ‘Aisha’ saw the light of day, Amrita was flooded with offers but for roles similar to what she had done in ‘Aisha’ or essay the hero’s sister or the heroine’s bestie. The hiccups continued but Amrita did not give up. “I was shortlisted for Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ (produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani) and Ayan Mukerji’s ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ (produced by Karan Johar). Both those roles went to Kalki Koelchin. She is my friend but I haven’t yet told her this,” Amrita smiles.

But when Anushka told her that even one film can change an actor’s life, like the commercial hit ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ did for her, Amrita took that as her motivation to continue. The conversation in question had taken place when Anushka had asked Amrita as to why she hadn’t seen more of her after ‘Aisha’.

Apparently, ‘Four More Shots Please!’ has done the trick for Amrita, who is now a recognisable face after the show went online. Was it difficult because she’s an outsider? “You never really know why you didn’t get a particular film,” she quips. But Amrita doesn’t deny that star kids have an advantage of sorts. “They don’t need to introduce themselves. Producers and directors know them,” she says, adding, “Post that, however, they certainly have to prove their merit.”

An ardent fan of Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit, Amrita shyly admits that she grew up dancing to their songs in front of the mirror. “I would’ve loved to do a ‘Paatal Lok’ or a ‘Scam’ or for that matter, Janhvi Kapoor’s role in ‘Gunjan Saxena’. I am keen to do roles which require me to research and adopt a certain body language.”

Back to papa Puri. Amrita was advised by him that acting is a very unpredictable profession, which she says that she has largely experienced and understood. “Kisi industry mein itna rejection nahin hota (You don’t face such rejection in any other industry). I still wonder sometimes if I am in the right profession. But today, I am happy. I am really happy that when I’m an 80-year-old, I won’t regret that I didn’t do what I wanted to,” Amrita concludes optimistically.