Exclusive: Patiala Babes fame Ashnoor Kaur on taking a break from TV, ‘I am preparing myself to lose the baby fat and go for a toned look’

Patiala Babes actress Ashnoor Kaur is all set to make her digital debut. Recently during a live chat with ETimes TV, the actress spoke about taking a break from TV, how she is preparing herself to transition into a young adult, looking for roles her age, Patiala Babes' reunion and more. Ashnoor also recalled her journey from being a child artist to stepping into adulthood. Excerpts from the conversation.

I have taken a little break from TV. I am focusing on web and maybe films with a strong script or a character. Let’s see how it goes. Basically, I have kind of taken a break to prepare myself for the upcoming projects. I am in the transition phase from a teenager to an adult now. I am focusing on my art and craft and my physical appearance. Then my comeback will become concrete. I have taken a few short-term projects and music videos. As an artist, I can’t just sit at home and do nothing.

I am looking for roles around my age, that of a young adult. I am 17 and don’t want to show that I have matured. In this transition phase, as a teenager you have that baby fat and you look like a kid. Now it is time for me to come up in a proper toned up look for lead roles. So I am preparing for that. I have been working out. But due to this sudden injury (Ashnoor fractured her hand during Diwali), my regime got restricted. I am following a particular kind of diet.

I would call it a roller-coaster ride. I started when I was a kid and there have been ups and downs. At times things were very surprisingly portrayed but turned out differently. There were positive and negative moments. But with each project I kept on learning, climbing one ladder at a time.

It is a very relatable character. My character Pari wishes to pursue acting and is very passionate about it. It is her journey, struggles of how she makes it in the industry. She comes from a small town to live in Mumbai, the struggles of a newcomer and overcoming daily life issues. It was relatable to some extent. But I won’t say I struggled that much. I have been in Mumbai with my family. We shifted to Mumbai because of dad’s job and acting happened for me. But facing rejections, giving auditions… I think every actor faces that especially in the initial days of the acting career. My parents used to accompany me to auditions and these are part and parcel of an actor’s life. Thousands of people come to Mumbai to fulfill their dreams and find work.

It is very different in terms of execution, realistic approach and even the looks that we have. I got to learn a lot. I have done TV for so many years and this break was very much needed. I wanted to break that monotony.

I have seen Taapsee di is very focused. When she is working, she doesn’t think of anything else and nothing else is around her. I liked how she is focused all the time. I like Abhishek Sir’s attitude. He is so down to earth. The first day he came to shoot, we were shooting in a gully. His food was arranged inside and he was called but he sat outside with all of us and everyone kept looking at him. But he was so chill. I was going from the same side for my shot and he saw and smiled at me. He said he saw my shot and complimented my work. Vicky bhaiya is something different on the sets. He would tease me like his younger sister. We had a great time. I loved his versatility. He is so passionate.

There is a thought process before I put up anything and there is a sense of responsibility. But I don’t let that convert into any kind of stress. I do have in mind that there are a certain number of people following me and my content has an impact on them. But my posts are very fun and easy. My posts are more about being who you are.

The cast of Patiala Babes had a reunion party in October. Speaking about the same, Ashnoor said, “We met after almost one and half or two years but it didn’t feel like that. We were all so close and warm and we were remembering the old days. We were still cracking old jokes, which we would crack on the sets. It was a memorable time for me. Just all the memories got refreshed.

Definitely it did affect us. What hurt us the most that we shot and didn’t know it was our last shoot day. The show got off-air and we learnt about it during the lockdown. Actually, at that time there was a ban of 7-8 days of shooting and we thought we would get to chill. We made a whatsapp group to keep a check on each other. But suddenly news came that we won’t go back to the sets. That is a show that is really really close to my heart out of all the shows I have done. But as they say time heals everything and we move on.

We don’t meet to create content. We live in the same society. Siddharth, Jannat, Chinky-Minky, Faisal – we keep meeting each other. Once in a blue moon we feel like dancing to a popular trendy song. It’s very spontaneous. We meet to chill. We talk about everything but work. I think that’s why we are such good friends. We never let a sense of insecurity crop in between us. I gossip, crack jokes, pull each other;s legs and have a good time.