Exclusive: Remember Taarak Mehta’s Tanaya Gupta aka Sapna? Here’s what she is up to now, facing casting couch in initial days of her career and more

Remember Tanaya Gupta, who played the roles of Sapna and Minty in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah? She played a brief role in 2015, a con girl, who came to marry and loot Popatlal, but repented later. ETimes TV got in touch with Tanaya, who is currently into content creation and living it up in her style. She spoke about her initial days in Mumbai, how acting happened to her, facing casting couch, confessing to being desperate to be popular, how she became an ‘influencer’ and a lot more.

I have been acting since 12 years of age and have done several shows but even today people know me from Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. Acting happened by chance and I started enjoying the process. The aim was never that people would come and recognise me. When I started doing reality shows, people started recognizing me and stardom got into my head. Suddenly when it went away, I started feeling bad. I started thinking what can I do to get back to stardom. Then slowly I realised, stardom is not constant. And then I got Taarak Mehta and people told me that I will get a lot of fame. Till today, people recognise me because of the character Minty. It is fascinating. I loved doing that role. When a person recognizes you for your character, it’s the biggest compliment for any actor. I take it as a token of appreciation.

I came to Mumbai to do my Masters in film-making. I studied for 2 years and then started working as an Assistant director. I have been a very lively person. My creative director gave me a reality show, which was based on cars. I had to create a team and I was giving up. But my colleagues convinced me and thought mujh me kuch toh hoga if everyone wants me to do it. And ever since I was in front of the camera, I was a drama Queen. I loved and enjoyed it so much. I did almost 8 reality shows. I didn’t really struggle for it but did a lot of running around and things kept happening. In between I didn’t have work for some months and that’s when it hit me that I need consistency in work. My parents supported me at that time. They were in Delhi and I wanted to come back because I wasn’t getting stability in work. But they told me not to quit. I tried harder and Taarak Mehta happened and it was like a lottery. I didn’t have to go for auditions, I was getting calls. Auditions were a part of the routine and I was getting selected. That’s how I took it forward.

It is very mystic. I was shooting for CID. I was supposed to shoot for another cameo role. I had one scene left from CID, which was supposed to take place the next day. So I told the channel of the new show that I would come a bit late because one scene was left from the other show. But there was some confusion, misunderstanding, which turned into arguments and they replaced me. I was very upset because you don’t get such roles easily because it was quite substantial. Suddenly the next day I was done with CID and got a call from Taarak channel. I went for the audition and felt I haven’t given my 100%. I went again and didn’t know that Taarak was such a big thing. I just went thinking I don’t want to lose out on a show. They called me for a look test. When I went for the look test I saw many other girls sitting. I was called for the 4th time. They wanted me to do a scene with Popatlal. After so many meetings and calls, I was finalised.

After some days people started recognizing me. When the episodes went on-air and there was repeat telecasts, I felt the craze. One day I was travelling in a train and when I came out of the train, there was a crowd. My mom had told me to cover my face and travel. I somehow squeezed myself through the crowd.

Uss show me kuch toh baat hai. The people, the process, everything is special. Everyone actually stays like a family. Anything happens, everyone comes together to celebrate it or solve it. The entire unit stays like a family. The show is the longest running because, like they portray it is a big family, they treat everyone like a family. I also got the same treatment despite being so new. They treated me so much with love. I shared a room with Dayaben (Disha Vakani) and she is one gem of a person. She would take care of me and shared jewellery hacks too. I was like ‘itne achhe log bhi hote hain?’ Popatlal would sit with me and rehearse lines with me.

I have told them, ‘ab mujhe le lo phir se’. Nothing is happening at the moment. But if I get a chance again I would love to do it.

When I started my career, I was just rushing after popularity and was desperate so that the popularity stays. But it was a lesson learnt the hard way. I just didn’t get anything that time. It made me realise nothing is constant. Popularity comes and goes and talent stays. When Taarak happened, I cashed in by doing other shows and focusing on my work. I wanted to do better. This time it was much easier and it didn’t go. The popularity is there.

Very much! When you are new, people know that you are new, naïve and vulnerable. People definitely take advantage of you. That time there wasn’t much awareness. Social media wasn’t there. People would be blunt and say, ‘this requires casting couch. If you are interested, then only call else don’t even bother’. Sometimes you would reach the last stage and people would talk to you with disrespect, I used to feel really bad. I tried talking to them with respect, telling them that I am not comfortable with it. I would leave gracefully and didn’t get into any fight. Some people called me back and gave me the role respectfully. Sometimes, it’s all about the vibe you are giving. But people will try whatever they have to try.

This wasn’t a drastic change. I was acting and also Instagram was new at that time. I was doing Dahleez back then and sharing a room with a GenZ. She was into Instagram a lot. We would do videos and click photos and my followers started increasing. I got a hang of it. Brands would approach me for barter collaborations. After sometime, I would get atleast 2 brands in a day and I would keep getting parcels. I got a hang of it slowly. I was also anchoring for a home-shopping channel and everything was going on side-by-side. Then after a point, I started charging and brands started paying too. Some would say no, but I took a chance by asking them to pay me. My followers increased to 50K, and during that time I got a travel opportunity to Maldives. At that time, only Bollywood celebrities would be hosted. I was shocked that a TV celebrity with 50K followers got invited. I took it seriously and international brands were also added to my list. My husband became my manager and I took up content creation full-fledged professionally.

My love for content creation and camera took my social media profile to the next level. If brands were paying ‘x’, during Covid they were paying ‘2X’. My prices became higher, my content creation became better. There were no auditions happening during lockdown and content creation was at its peak. Even Insta story ads were paying five times more than digital ads. For an insta story I would just have to shoot at home, but for a digital ad I would have to be on sets for 13-14 hours. I haven’t quit acting but it has to be meaty.

I met him on a dating app, which I downloaded that very day. I was speaking to 3-4 people but I got stuck on one picture. When we started talking I deleted the app. I met him at a café. We spoke and then after coming out, I called my best friend and said ‘I can totally date this guy’ and we started dating. Then I told him that I am done with the dating shebang and looking for something serious. We were on the same page. And it was during the Maldives trip, where I got hosted and he had planned a proposal. We got married. I danced at a pub wearing a lehenga and those videos went viral. The popularity shot up and everyone wrote, ‘Taarak girl dances in a lehenga at a pub’. Not only he, my in-laws also help me with content. Sometimes there’s no one to shoot and my father-in-law helps me. I am blessed to have a supportive family around.