Parul Gulati, The Actor And The Inspirer: The “Mann mein laddu phoota” prodigy has come a long way from chocolate commercials to being the heartbeat of India. Parul Gulati is a talented actress, gorgeous model, and an aspiring entrepreneur who inspires the upcoming generation.
Her story, from Rohtak to Mumbai, often gets the highlight of success being handed to her on a plate, but it ignores the turning point of her life after Mumbai when her passion and hard work really began.
Inspiring your journey, one story at a time. #LifeFalcon.
Bollywood is one of the world’s most established film industries and making a name in it among the big stars can never be a mere stroke of luck.
Parul has credited 17 roles to her portfolio as of 2020. They include movies, regional movies, web series, and short films. Her role in Girl’s Hostel as Zahira Ali brought her more fame than she expected, and also caught the eye of many film producers in the industry.
Having graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, she feels and delivers every character as if it were a story from her own life. It is perhaps, this special quality why we love seeing her on the big screen.
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Parul Gulati Early Life
Gulati was born in a traditional Indian family in the city of Rohtak. A small and conservative place where the biggest milestone for a girl is getting married and her life begins afterward, as said by Parul.
She studied at a good school and was a highly average student. The only goal in her life was to have something of her own, not knowing what it would be.
Parul enjoyed a happy childhood with loving and kind parents that supported her in every aspect of life. The distant relationship with her father will soon come around to pull her into identity crisis and depression, but not just yet.
Even as a teenager, Gulati had been overly involved in social media modeling as she posted photos online. And it had been this very hobby that got her the first acting contract of her life and had to leave Rohtak for Mumbai.
She was from a completely non-Bollywood background and that made her step out of the house in pursuit of a new life a hard decision to make.
Despite Gulati being very open about her life and brought up, there is not much that is shared about her childhood and early life.
Mumbai, the city of dreams had much in store for Gulati than she knew. Leaving her hometown for something not yet clear was a major step for a small-town girl, but her parents supported her as always.
She was not nearly as polished and groomed a personality that we see today. Gulati says she didn’t even know how to communicate with people around her and English had the biggest barrier of all.
Her first airing in the Cadbury commercial brought her much fame and validation to her parents that she was down a good track into making something of herself.
Parul Gulati’s Career
After appearing in several commercials, she debuted on the screen in the 2009 TV series “Yeh Pyaar Na Hoga Kam”.
Although the screen-time she got was not very commendable as it was not a major role, but that is how every debut performance is supposed to go. Every great story starts small.
The film “Burrraahh” featured her first major role in 2012, in which a group of students competed on a national level in a dance festival to defend their college.
The movie was a great hit, but for Parul to step up from the Punjabi cinema and onto a bigger platform, she needed more than that.
This desire to grow big and turn her love for passion into something more solid made her enroll in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
She completed many courses from there including theatre and film acting, and also attended some other related sessions for growth.
Once she had inquired enough knowledge and learned much more about the field that she had to pursue in life, she returned to India with high hopes.
It was only until she came back that she realized getting picked up by producers like her first time is not an everyday occurrence. If she had to get back into the industry, she had to leave her comfort zone, which she did.
Getting her foot inside every door that opened landed her on a contract for “Zorawar”. A film that had an average lead cast beside her but Gulati was driven by passion.
It was a few days into her contract that the lead role had been given to the then sensation, Yo Yo Honey Singh.
The release in 2016 marked her return to the industry after which she got several Web Series contracts and had been on her way to the top ever since.
When asked about her preference in acting, Gulati implied how Web Series acting gives you more time to dissolve in the character and live with it for a while.
P.O.W. Bandi Yuddh Ke, Haq Se, Selection Day, Crime Patrol 100, Hey Prabhu, Girls Hostel, The Raikar Case, Illegal-Justice Out Of Order, and Your Honor are the web series that she acted in ever since.
Not every release impacts your career equally. For Parul, the most impactful series has been Girls Hostel (2019-2019).
Zahira Ali got her nationwide fame and made her recognizable by her character wherever she went, the life of being in the spotlight had just begun.
She has also been working on her own production, Guftugu with Anu, which was released in 2018. Parul expresses her story and how she battled the hard realities of life to come out even stronger.
Apart from film making, Parul started her own brand of natural hair extensions. The brand was originally aimed at providing products for actresses on screen but because of the widespread demand, it flourished and expanded to provide for any customer.
Expressing her love for both the passions, Gulati says that acting is her husband and the Nishhair (Her brand) her baby.
Parul Gulati Story Of “Self Love”
Parul is the epitome of elegance and cheerfulness to us, but she has long been fighting a battle of her own.
In a recent interview with Digital Commentary on “Trending Talents”, Parul revealed how she always felt a void in her heart. She chose to fill it with validation from others as per her words, which was nothing but a downward spiral.
She had always longed for attention, whether it was in a group of friends or some colleagues having a cup of tea after set, she always had a story to grasp everyone’s attention.
The high of being in the spotlight became addictive enough for her to come up with stories of her own about her family. She masked the distant relationship with her father by making him the most loving person of her story.
Parul says she felt over the moon when she first hit 100k followers on Instagram and every post of her was getting over 60k views.
Expressing her routine feelings and immensely enjoying the love she received from her fans and followers. But soon she was to realize that the road she was on had nothing in it for her.
She had often uploaded her pictures when drinking out with acquaintances as she nose-dived into “the big D word, depression” as she would phrase it.
It was then that she started seeing a therapist and things began to change.
The sweet and charming character in Mann Mein Laddu Phoota was near a total wreck but had a will to fight and she did.
She says the only thing that got her out of the downward spiral towards self-destruction was learning self-love. Her pursuit of validation from others and coming up with stories of her had made her forget to appreciate and love what she already had.
As Parul herself has said, she was focusing too much on getting more acquaintances than to return the love to her closed ones who she took for granted. Naming them Category A friends and Category C friends, Category A being the closed ones.
She appeared on a show of Tedx Talks, narrating her inspirational story on the stage and revealing her theme for the book she is writing.
Maybe we’ll get to see and read for ourselves the inner details of this inspiring story once the book is released. But until then, there is absolutely no reason to stop admiring her for her talent and will to go on in life.
Nishhair – Her Brand
Parul came forward with her brand for natural hair extensions in 2017.
She had always been motivated to “be my own boss” but couldn’t gather the nerve for opening something as big as a personal fragrance or clothing line as the big stars.
Little did she know that her natural hair extensions brand was going to grow to be the number one in India.
She got the idea in 2015, while she was on the set for “Zorawar”, but it took her a good two years to give shape and form to this dream of hers.
She has a website to her name dedicated to the dealing of the natural hair extensions and is often seen advertising it on her social media platforms.
One of the major criticism Gulati faced was when she uploading a short video of herself, she had clipped her iPhone in the bra while making the video.
Though there was nothing censored about the video and was an honest sharing of thought, it received humiliating remarks as a bizarre video, which she eventually deleted.
Commonly Asked Questions about Parul Gulati
How Did Parul Gulati Get Into Acting?
“It was not planned at all. I went for an audition when I was studying and this was my first taste of the entertainment industry. Initially, it was all hunky-dory, but I soon bagged a Punjabi movie and this encouraged me to focus on acting as a career…”
Is Parul Gulati Married?
The question comes from a post-Gulati going viral earlier in the year as she posted a selfie with the actor Raphael Jose. They were both sitting in the back of a car and wearing bridal dresses, to put the cherry on top, she captioned it “Happily Married”.
Turns out it had just been a prank as the two actors were on a set together and thought of doing something “Fun”. Many fans received the news with welcome remarks but some made her fun moment backfire by posting nasty comments.
Is Parul Gulati From A Film Background?
Parul is the shining example of starting at the bottom and reaching her way to the top with her own talent and skill. She had no background in the film industry and got the taste of acting when she cleared her audition at the age of 17.
Through her journey, she says to have faced many blocks because of being a complete stranger to how things work but had never let anything hold her back from pursuing her passion.
Conclusion
Her story and triumphs continue and we hope to see a lot of her on the big screen in the industry. She has had her highs and lows but faced life as in the spirit that she pursues her passion.
Having given hope to many new youngsters by playing a truly inspirational role as she revealed everything about her downfall and recovery, she stands out from many others we see on the same pedestal.
Though she may reach unparalleled heights with her talent, her first performance will always playback every time we see gorgeous Parul on screen, “Mann Mein Laddu Phoota”.
Featured Image credit
Source: Wikipedia Commons (The image was extracted from this source) Author of image: Kashmira69
