Alaya F can’t wait to get back on a set, says pandemic has reinforced her love for acting

Alaya F was all charged up to start her Bollywood journey, in a full-fledged manner, after her debut Jawaani Jaaneman early last year. But instead, the actor was forced to spend her time sitting at home waiting for the pandemic to subside. She admits that initially she didn’t know how to handle the lull, but she eventually came to terms with it.

“For me, it was a particularly tough time because my film had just been released (in January) and the world went into a lockdown. So, that was very disappointing in a lot of ways,” she confesses.

The daughter of actor Pooja Bedi says that she was bustling with energy, and “suddenly the momentum was taken away” from her because the whole world stopped. She continues, “In the beginning, it was very difficult because so much was happening (in my life). But eventually, I learned that you can always make something out of nothing if you really want to.”

The actor, who studied in New York (US) before her acting debut, explains that for long she didn’t realise her life was so fast paced and things changed in lockdown.

“I could finally take my time… now I don’t have to rush around to do everything,” she admits, adding, “Before all this, I had become a person who’d eat the food in five minutes. In the lockdown, I would finally sit and take 45 minutes to finish a meal. Now, [when we] come out of the lockdown, I’ll be learning how to do my work with as much passion and madness, and also allow time for myself.”

The 23-year-old, who was last seen in the music video Aaj Sajeya, says that the pandemic has made her realise her love for acting.

“There’s nothing in the world that I’d rather do, other than act, and be in front of the camera. I knew this before, but during this time, it has been so heavily reinforced for me. My first movie, shooting the music video, lockdown and pandemic — they’ve all only strengthened this fact that this is what I want to do,” she insists.

And now, Alaya is just waiting for things to get better, so she can get back to her set life.

“I have few projects lined up, which will be announced soon, and for which we should start shooting once things open up. I can’t wait to get back on a set,” she concludes excitedly.