Hina Khan: ‘I always wanted to be a journalist; I was a Bharkha Dutt fan’

Hina Khan has 13 years of experience in the entertainment industry. She did, recently, confess that she had always preferred to pursue a career in journalism, much like her idol Barkha Dutt. Hina revealed that she got into acting by chance.

In 2009, Hina made her acting debut in the Star Plus television series Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, in which she played the lead character Akshara Singhania. Before leaving the role in 2016 to work on other projects, she performed it for eight years. Recently, she remembered how her friends had pushed her to register for the show’s auditions.

She told Curly Tales YouTube channel, “I don’t think I wanted to become an actor. I wanted to become a journalist, always. I was a huge Barkha Dutt fan. But destiny had some other plans. Auditions were happening in Delhi and I gave the audition, my friends kind of forced me. I got selected in the first round, then they asked me to come to Bombay, I cleared all the rounds and I started shooting. So this is how acting happened for me.”

Hina also recalled her time when she was working in a call centre before becoming an actor. She said, “”Some girls I knew in my PG used to work at a call centre, and they used to make good money. They said ‘we just call people and tell them to pay your debt.’ I said ‘bas? dhamkana hai, hadkana hai? (You just have to threaten them, berate them)? I can do it.’ Over there also, the first month I was the highest collector on the floor. My first cheque was 45,000. My salary was 250000 but I got 45,000 with incentives because I made such a good collection. I would tell them my sob stories that if you will not pay they will throw me out. I have done all of this. I was very naughty. If acting didn’t happen, maybe I still would have been there at some post, or something else.”

Following Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Hina took part in the reality competition shows Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi. She appeared in movies like Smartphone, Hacked, and Unlock among others, and she also played Komolika, the antagonist in Kasautii Zindagii Kay.