Prajakta Koli: First day on the set was a culture shock
“I would get the heebie-jeebies during auditions.” One would hardly associate the statement with an Internet sensation who spends almost every waking moment creating videos and has close to six million followers on her YouTube channel. Yet, Prajakta Koli, better known by her YouTube handle Mostly Sane, says that as much as she loves being in front of the camera, she had a mental block against screen tests.
“I would get audition calls from casting agents, but I used to find an excuse to get out of them. Auditions would break me into a sweat. I act in my videos, which is my world, but there was a sense of discomfort in acting in front of others,” admits Koli, who has made her official acting debut with Mismatched.
Prajakta Koli
She quips that if she had her way, she would have skipped the screen test of the Akarsh Khurana-directed series. “I went to the audition in a T-shirt, sweatpants and chappals. I did not even bother to wear contact lenses, instead sporting my glasses. I was sure they would never call me back.”
The Netflix series, also featuring Rohit Saraf, has struck a chord with youngsters. “My first day on the set was a culture shock. As a YouTuber, I do everything myself — be it writing, or make-up, or shooting. On a show/ film set, you just have to say your lines in front of the camera and go. It was also novel to play a character I have not written,” says Koli, who has begun shooting for her big-screen debut, Jug Jugg Jeeyo. The Karan Johar production stars Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Neetu Kapoor and Anil Kapoor. Though Bollywood has come calling, Koli asserts she’ll never stop making YouTube videos.
