At the young age of 25, Ravina Sharma is an up and coming actress from Jharkhand, having worked in various commercials, plays, web series, and having found success on Instagram ( @ravinasharma_ ). But coming to this point has not been easy. she was born and brought up in Ranchi, and as she was from a small town, she could never openly talk about wanting a career in acting.
As she puts it, ‘When you express the desire to do something different, you get too many unwarranted opinions.’ Her parents knew she wanted to write, but even writing as a career was frowned upon. ‘Unless you write for the news,’ said her father, ‘you won’t earn anything as a writer.’ So, in Ranchi, she never mentioned her desire for an acting career to her family or friends.
At the age of 18 she when she moved to Delhi she worked as a content writer. She realised she liked writing sketches, scripts, poetry, and stuff like jokes and humorous plays.
She notes that while speaking to a career counsellor at 21 she was still hesitant to use the word “acting”. She says, ‘it took me courage to accept that acting is what I wanted to do as a career.’ Due to her mother’s illness, as fate should have it, she landed in the heart of the entertainment industry in India – Mumbai.
In her 3rd year living in Mumbai she started doing Theatre and the first play that she worked for, was selected among the top 4 plays in the country by Thespo Play Festival, beating out over 150 registrants. It was after this play’s performance at the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai, that she developed a love for the stage.
‘Mumbai does welcome you!’ she says. She finds it extremely fun to work with various directors and actors who have a lot of experience in their field. ‘However, you meet people who make you realise you have flaws. Someone once told me to hide my ears because they are too big!’ Initially, she used to get affected by opinions but after a workshop with Daminee Benny Basu, she learned how to face her feelings and overcome obstacles. She says, ‘Some days as an actor, you don’t believe in yourself and have a lot of self-doubts, and some days you think you are the best! And I am learning to find the balance between the two. I’m now also selective about the opinions that I get affected by.’Ravina has learned that rejection is a part of life, and it does not affect her much. However, at the end of the day one must pay rent, and a long period with no work can be disheartening. Sometimes she wishes she did not have to pay her rent and could keep exploring all that the industry has to offer.
Her secondary Instagram account (@imjustslayin) is ‘Just me talking about stuff that I believe in’. She and her partner Shruti are both from Ranchi and have known each other for 10 years. They connected during this lockdown and love working with each other, ‘We finish each other’s jokes!’. She says that if people resonate with her thoughts, then the page will grow and so she doesn’t keep high expectations and ensures she is focused solely on creating content.
Ravina says she will always find something to do in the future: if it isn’t acting, it will be writing. She loves writing characters and adores this ‘World of stories’. She keeps her options open, but she is sure to keep making content in comedy. She says she finds Humour to be her defence mechanism.
Ravina also has wonderful advice for content creators: ‘I always feel like we get so bothered by our flaws. I have heard so many people say stuff like ‘once I lose weight, I’ll start making content’. It is okay to want to be the best version of yourself, but don’t let that hold you back from achieving. You never know what people will like and people genuinely like honesty.’
