Elnaaz Nourouzi: The way artists are being treated in the industry is extremely wrong; everywhere else they have boundaries

After proving her mettle in the acting and the modelling industry, Elnaaz Norouzi forayed into the world of music with the catchy song ‘La La Love’. The actress had earlier confessed that singing had been her hidden talent and to show it to the world has been liberating for her. ETimes got in touch with Elnaaz to congratulate her on the same, where she opened up about her song, her biggest takeaways from showbiz, and how she’s navigating her professional life against all odds.

How has the response for La La Love been so far?

The response has been great so far. I’m super, super grateful. People have been giving me amazing feedback. One thing I’ve always been scared of was the fact that I didn’t want people to tell me, ‘Oh, you can’t sing, you should have stuck to acting. Why is she singing now?’ But fortunately, that didn’t happen.

What was the creative process for the entire number? What were your biggest takeaways from the same?
When I was sitting with my producers and jamming, the main thought was a club number, a summer number with dance. The drop that you hear in the song, is specifically kept so that we can do a full dance part on that. Love was the thought and this is how we came to ‘La la la la.’

Singing has been your hidden talent. It’s great to see that you’ve finally let the world know about your talent. What made you take this step?

I always used to sing on my own. I love singing and it’s very therapeutic for me. It makes me feel good, but because I always wanted to be an actor, I never thought that I could do both. And I never went through to do this step because I didn’t know if I could. But when I started taking vocal training for my voice to be able to control it as an actor, my coach told me that I can sing and that I should sing. And this is how it all started because right after that the lockdown started and I was stuck in Germany. I kept working on my voice and made songs in Germany. The pandemic made all of this happen.

Any fond memories or anecdotes of shooting with Anil Kapoor in ‘JugJugg Jeeyo’?

It was a lot of fun because the entire cast were so energetic. There’s always something happening around them. We were playing in between shots. We would go and play darts outside our vanities with Anil ji, Varun Dhawan and Maniesh Paul. It was just a lot of fun being around these boys and an elder, obviously. I missed those days.

What’s your approach to building your career and enhancing your stardom?

Basically, there’s only one approach. Just go ahead, do the things that you want to do and have fun doing them because nobody can decide for you what you should do in your career. What works for someone else might not work for you, and what works for you might not work for someone else. In the beginning, I used to listen to a lot of people who would tell me, this is how you have to do it and this is what you should not do. And that really didn’t get me anywhere. When I started deciding that I’m going to do what I want to do and what I think is correct for my career, that’s when things started shaping up much better.

How do you handle fame?

Well, I’m happy about all the love and recognition because I’ve worked really hard for it. I’ve wanted it, I’ve wanted to be accepted in the country. I always thought that I need to give my 300% for people to accept me here. That’s why I learned the language in the best way that I could. I learned reading and writing in Devanagari because I wanted to do it properly and I wanted to be able to read my scripts properly. I wanted to speak the language properly. I’ve been really working hard on everything. It really feels good to have people recognise that, to have people tell me, well, when you speak Hindi, we don’t realise that you’re a foreigner. And that’s what I wanted. So yeah, nothing has changed. I’m still the same person.

Is there a pressure of staying relevant and consistent in the industry?

Yes, there is pressure and I don’t really think it’s a great thing. Another thing which I think is extremely wrong is the way artists and actors are being treated in the industry. Some artists go out of their way to accommodate a lot of producers and directors and do things. That then puts other artists into a spot where they have to exhaust themselves, where they have to go out of their way and out of their comfort zone to do things because that artist does it. ‘Why can’t you do it?’ And I think that’s very wrong. And unfortunately, it is only here in this country where this happens, because everywhere else artists have boundaries.

And I wish this would be something that we could take care of. But staying relevant is important, I guess, everywhere. Everyone has their own journey and I feel everyone just should be content with what they’re doing. And not let anything stress them out because it’s not worth it. Just keep doing great work, and it’ll take you somewhere at some point.

How has your journey been in showbiz so far? What have been your biggest takeaways and learnings?

My journey has been stressful. My journey has been beautiful. My journey has been the journey that I have imagined it to be. I had not imagined it to be so hard and bumpy. But these are the things that I always wanted. Everything that I’m doing is things that I always wanted. And my biggest takeaway is just patience, persistence, and not giving up.

Are you choosy about working on things? Even as a creative person, do you keep boundaries?

I’m definitely choosy about the things that I do. And boundaries, for me, are very important for me, definitely much more than for some other actors whom I know. And I think boundaries are important in everything that you do, be it your job, be it whatever. And earlier, I wouldn’t have any creative say, but now I do.

And I do give my two cents about things that I work on. And if that goes well with the director and the producer… the point is we’re making something together, right? We’re creating something together. We’re not working against each other. So that’s why I love it when the producer or the director gives you that kind of a creative say and they help you put a piece of you into the project, which I think is great.

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