Actor Adah Sharma (pictured) was excited to find a bit of her own self in Mahek, one of the main protagonists in the recently-released web series, The Holiday. “This is probably the first role in which I play someone like myself — the half-crazy girl who loves to have fun but knows where to draw the line. I’m happy that I could lend a bit of my personality to this role,” says the soft-spoken actor with rainbow-colour hair, about her web series debut.The Holiday, streaming on Zoom Studio, is a story woven around a bachelorette party in Mauritius which the bride-to-be enjoys with her three best friends who are men (Priyank Sharma, Aashim Gulati and Veer Rajwant Singh). The series tries to break gender stereotypes through this story of friendship. “You have Dil Chahta Hai with three men, who are close friends, and Veere Di Wedding is about four girls who are friends. So, this is an unusual bachelorette trip. It shows that male-female friendship can be platonic and fun,” says Sharma, who was selected for the role after the producers saw her rather entertaining make-up tutorial parody she’d done for a promotion. In her upcoming film Man to Man, the 27-year-old plays a woman who has undergone a gender change process. “It’s an interesting but challenging role,” she says.The actor, who debuted on the big screen with the 2008 horror film 1920, shot for The Holiday in 18 days, in 14-hour schedules. “Being on set with just guys was quite crazy. But within a few days, they treated me like one of them. It’s amazing to have four different energies working together. The connection we made on the sets was surprisingly perfect, and I’ve never laughed this much on a set,” says Sharma, who will also be seen in Commando 3, Bypass Road and Man to Man, apart from the second season of The Holiday.Sharma, however, had never planned to enter the film industry. She was advised to go for auditions by actor Asha Parekh’s manager after her annual day Kathak performance at school. “Before I knew it, I had quit studies post my 10th grade and was going for auditions. I probably wouldn’t have joined the industry had I thought it through. But now I don’t regret it one bit,” she says. Mostly because the exposure to the world of entertainment has made the actor, who was earlier socially awkward, more confident now. “It was tough for me to talk to people and hold a conversation without feeling nervous. I’ve had my bunch of very close friends. So it’s hard for me to open up to new people. But that’s changed now,” says Sharma.
