Janhvi Kapoor says she ‘learnt nothing’ in LA acting school, feels she should have spent those years learning about India

Janhvi Kapoor says she ‘learnt nothing’ in LA acting school, feels she should have spent those years learning about India

Janhvi Kapoor, who will soon be seen in films like Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, Mr and Mrs Mahi and Devara, recently shared that even though she went to acting school in Los Angeles, she “learnt nothing there.” In a recent interview, Janhvi shared that she went to Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles but their approach to educating their students was focused only on Hollywood.

Speaking about the same to The Week, Janhvi said, “I learnt nothing there.” She added that even though California “was fun” and the school is “great”, it didn’t much for her. But what she gained from the experience, was the joy of living in anonymity. Janhvi is the daughter of late Sridevi and producer Boney Kapoor and was known from a very young age because of her famous parents. “My main agenda, and I think the thrill in it for me was… for the first time to be in an environment where I wasn’t being identified as someone’s daughter. And I think that anonymity was so refreshing and that’s what I held on to the most,” she said.

She then shared that even the format of the school wasn’t aligned in a way that would benefit her in India. “The format of the school that I studied over there was very deep rooted in how Hollywood works, how their auditioning process is, what it’s like to meet casting agents,” she said. The Good Luck Jerry actor said that she realised that she wasn’t a method actor while studying at a school that was formed on the principle of method acting. She mentioned that while she was in LA, she realised that she could have utilised her time better by being in India and learning about Indian people and languages.

“I wish I could have used that time getting to know my people and my country and my language a little better because I am telling the stories of my people, not of them,” she said and added, “I just wish I did more things that would make me relate to my people and I did. Once I started shooting for Dhadak, I made a 180 and I realised that the only thing that matters is, I want to tell stories of my country, I want to know the people of my country, I want to be able to speak to them, I want to be able to think like them, feel like them and sitting in LA, going to Malibu on the weekend isn’t going to cut it. It just makes you so detached and jaded.”

Janhvi was last seen in Nitesh Tiwari’s Bawaal with Varun Dhawan.

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