Gayatri Bhardwaj is an Indian model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder who predominantly works in Hindi films. She represented the state of New Delhi at the Femina Miss India 2018 pageant, where she was crowned Femina Miss India Miss United Continents 2018, and represented India at the Miss United Continents pageant
Women Fitness President, Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Gayatri Bhardwaj as she talks about her journey, pageant stories, and much more exclusively in our March Digital Edit
Namita Nayyar:
Gayatri you started your journey with Pegents, tell us how you decided to be part of Femiss Miss India.
Gayatri Bhardwaj
Miss India was something I always grew up watching, I strongly remember every year there was a picture in the Delhi Times, of the three winners with the crown and bouquet, I always wanted to go in for it but my parents wanted me to complete my studies first and then venture into it so I completed my dentistry and then I went ahead with Miss India, cleared all the rounds and went ahead to win Miss United Continents and represent my county which was a mesmerizing moment for me since I was finally living my dream which I never realized would become a reality.
Namita Nayyar:
You have been part of the Hindi and Telugu industries, tell us how you decided to be an actor and prepared yourself for a role.
Gayatri Bhardwaj
After my pageant journey was over, I was clueless about what I wanted to do in life. I also had my dentistry degree. Could have worked and pursued my career there, but at the same time, I feel like my passion always lay in the performing arts. I was always a very expressive child, who loved to be on the stage. It was just always my passion to be on stage. So I feel like that remained with me throughout. And I wanted to ultimately do something that I’m good at, that I’m passionate about.
So I started taking acting workshops and went to give hundreds of auditions in the first two years of my stay in Bombay. And I feel like I kept getting better at what I did. I mean, from my first audition to the one I cracked, there’s a huge difference. And I feel like life taught me, experiences have taught me how to act. So much has changed in me as a person. All of that has shaped me into, the actors that I am, because I feel like acting is also a culmination of what you are as a person in real life, and all of those experiences helped me. There were a lot of highs and an equal amount of equal number of lows in my life.
But, the first-ever role that I cracked was Dhindora, which was opposite Bhuvan Bam, it was a series that was released on YouTube. The response that I received from the audience honestly changed my life, because after that, it was like a no-brainer that I wanted to continue. And after that, of course, I did one Hindi film. Then I did my, web series called Ishq Express, which was on Amazon Mini TV. I did a film called Tiger Nageshwara Rao, a Telugu film released pan-India. It was challenging to take on that character because again, a Telugu girl, I’m a Delhi girl through and through.
I was born and raised in a city and I played a village girl in this story. So I feel like the time at which this role came to me was a time when I was a lot more vulnerable as an actor, I was a lot more attuned to being, to shed my outer layers, and embracing a different character altogether. I learned Telugu for two to three months. I remember I had taken workshops, I used to be on my Zoom calls with this Telugu teacher, writing down the pronunciation, and memorizing my lines. So that was that was a big, challenge, that is basically what went into the prep for the film.
Namita Nayyar:
Women Fitness India talks about celebrity diets and fitness regimes, do you follow any special diet? Your favorite cheat meal.
Gayatri Bhardwaj
I am somebody who’s always been in sports. I’ve played football at the national level from my school. So fitness has been a very important part of my life throughout my, schooling, my college, and my adult life also. So I feel like more than following a diet, I’ve always been passionate about being active. I make sure that I don’t count my calories. I make sure that I nourish my body, and feed my body what it needs. Every day is a different day. As a woman, I feel like we have to be more, careful about our hormones and not deprive ourselves of essential nutrients, which are important for certain hormone production. So for me, I feel like diet is something that I don’t focus on. I focus more on my actual activity in life.
My Favourite cheat meal has to be a homemade pizza which my mom makes, it has to be my favourite.
Namita Nayyar:
What consists of your fitness regime? Do you do functional or weight training?
Gayatri Bhardwaj
For me, my fitness regime is quite simple. I believe that weight training and functional training both are equally important. So I do my weight training in the form of functional training. I lift extremely heavy weights, like my deadlifts that I do.
I regularly lift 100kg in that and it makes me feel so empowered. Even my squats like my maximum weight that I do is 90kg, my chest press, I do 40 kilos. So all of these are just numbers. But like for me, it’s so important because I have progressed from nothing like five kilos weights to now, so much weight, and I feel like I’ve only gotten stronger and I know I’m going to continue to get stronger.
So I feel like weight training has changed my life and I will forever advocate, for weight training. And I also love playing football. Still, I play football every week with my friends. We book a turf and we all love to play, and most of us are actors who play, so it’s a lot of fun. I do gymnastics as well as mixed martial arts. So I feel like there’s a bunch of things that keep me going.
Namita Nayyar:
With physical fitness, how do keep up with your mental wellness?
Gayatri Bhardwaj
Very good question. Mental fitness is so important. I can’t stress this enough. It is your mind that sails you through life physical fitness, of course, will be dependent on how good you feel mentally to keep yourself going. Because when you’re lifting also when you’re doing any kind of physical work, if you’re feeling weak mentally, you won’t be able to do anything. I feel like mental health is something that now people are starting to talk more about, for me, the most important thing in life is to maintain a nice equilibrium between the two. I do a lot of, meditation, throughout my week. Spend time with my family. I spend time with my dogs.
My dogs are a big source of happiness for me in my life. Whenever I come back home, the way they meet me, I feel like I’m the most important person in the world. They give me so much love and so much joy. So I feel like that is a big part of how I keep myself happy. And for me, a big part of keeping myself sane is also to do to give back to society. I work with, animal shelters that I regularly donate to and, an orphanage that I go to regularly. I feel like when I do things for people or when I can give back in whatever way I can, it brings me so much peace and joy and makes me feel, sane, to be very honest.
Namita Nayyar
Lastly, what upcoming projects for the year?
Gayatri Bhardwaj
I’ve been shooting for my web series called Highway Love. It’s season two of that that’s going to be released in June, and I’m looking forward to that. I had a ball of a time shooting for it last month. I’ve been auditioning for certain other projects. I’m excited to see what this year has in store for me. Thank you so much for interviewing me.
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