"I'm glad people in industry made me feel like 'misfit'", Says Mita Vashisht

It has been three decades for actor Mita Vashisht in the Hindi film industry and she is happy that she continued working on her own terms even when the people here made her feel like a "misfit".

A graduate from the National School of Drama (NSD), she made her big-screen debut with Yash Chopra's Chandni in 1989, but found her voice far away from the commercial space in collaborations with filmmakers Mani Kaul, Govind Nihalani and Kumar Shahani.

Vashisht earned recognition with films like Drishti, Drokhaal, Ghulam, Taal and later became a household name with TV shows like Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein,, Swabhimaan and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki.

Recalling a testing phase in her career, the 52-year-old said she found herself questioning all her past choices when work began to slow down. She wondered if it was right to be stubborn about her beliefs or if she should have been more "sociable".

"But after 35 years here, I know I was right to believe in myself completely and never to be swayed by anything, anybody. Even if there were times when people made me feel misfit, now I think I'm glad they did," Vashisht told PTI in an interview. The "misfit" tag, she said, came her way as she struggled to fit in the "buddy network" of the industry which expected her to go to parties to be seen.

But the actor said even on days when she found herself at a party, she would stand in a corner and get bored.

"I also didn't do certain things not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't know better," she said. Vashisht recalled how she ended up at a Diwali party at Chopra's house in jeans and T-shirt.

"I didn't realise what a big invite it was so I landed up in jeans and T-shirt! That's all that I had anyway!

"The other time, when I was wearing a white achkan for the 'Chandni' premiere which was lent to me by Dimple Kapadia. The theme was moonlight white and I had no clothes which fit in the description," she said. The actor said while there's no denying that the industry has camps, which run on an idea that they "control" people, one ultimately finds space to blossom.

"There are cliques. They can be made later also. You can still be an outsider but suddenly you're moving in a certain clique. The world is big enough and so is the industry for lots to flower."