Barkha Singh feels she has been typecast as an “urban girl next door”: Want to break out of that image

In the 2000s, youth-centric television shows became a genre in itself and grabbed the attention of the millennial audience. While they experienced a lull in the subsequent years, they seem to be back, thanks to the web. And with web series like Engineering Girls and Please Find Attached and the television show Girls On Top featuring her, actor Barkha Singh feels happy that the web has brought back youth-centric content to the fore, once again.

“I remember watching (television shows) Remix, Just Mohabbat and Hip Hip Hurray. They were so much fun. They’ve had a lasting impact in my life. The youth of today shouldn’t be denied of that impact. I’m very happy that they are making a comeback,” she tells us.

Talking about her fan girl moment when she met Remix actor Karan Wahi, the Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan actor says, “When I was shooting for Girls On Top, Karan had come on set and I remember flipping out (laughs). I wouldn’t have flipped out so much seeing a Bollywood actor. Now, he is a friend and we laugh over it.”

Having worked in a bouquet of web series and films over the past few years, Singh doesn’t feel bothered by the tag of a web actor. “Great actors like Vijay Raaz and Sheeba Chadha are doing amazing work on the web, and they aren’t stereotyped. Stereotypes may exist depending on the kind of roles that you do,” she says.

She’s quick to add that she has often been typecast as an “urban girl next door”. Talking about it, the 29-year-old says, “I feel I’ve done a whole bunch of urban girl-next-door roles over the past few years. Magazine covers have called me the digital girl-next-door.”

With her upcoming projects, Singh wants to change the perception that the audience and the makers have about her. “I’m looking to break out of that image to do something a little more desi. There has to be a way to come around it. I’ve put it out there that I want to do more challenging roles that are dark and twisted,” says the actor, who will next be seen in the web project, The Great Weddings Of Munnes.