Komal Thacker – The First Gujarati Actress Who Has been Invited Cannes

“My only dream is to work till the last breath of my life”
– Komal Thacker

Early Life and Childhood

Komal Thacker is not only a very popular name now in Gujarat, but she has established her name in the Bollywood city Mumbai as well with her hard work and determination. She was born on 13^th September 1985 in the town of Dudhi in the Kachchh district of Gujarat. Her father was a sweet maker and her mother was a doting housewife. They are 6 sisters and one brother. Her brother is the youngest one. When her mother gave birth to three daughters, and she is the fourth one.

Komal did her primary education very well. During her school days, she was under the influence of a few of her friends who made her understand that boarding school is the best as staying away from home will give her the independence to live a life. Later on Komal decided to start that life where she can start taking responsibilities of herself, she asked her parents to send her to a boarding school. She took admission to a boarding school, but after a few days, she got claustrophobic and wanted to leave. But, it is not that easy to leave a boarding school. She flew from there and came back home. She continued her studies till college at Open University and from home.

Her entry to this silver world

Komal started her career as a makeup artist, and she had her own salon as well. It was during the beauty pageant Miss Kachchh, where she went as a makeup artist. The organizers found her very beautiful and asked her to enrol her name as one of the participants. But she had no interest in that. The organizers came to her house and convinced her mother and sisters, who filled the form on her behalf. She was selected, and at the request of her mother and sisters she participated. By God’s grace, she was the winner of the event. The entire scenario changed after that. She became famous overnight and got many calls for interviews and many events and shops opening.

It was during that time Dev Anand was planning for a movie ‘Mr. Prime Minister’, and the shooting was supposed to take place at Kachchh. He asked the local coordinator to find a beautiful girl from the beauty pageant, and the organizers referred her. Dev Anand selected her instantly, and she was selected for a small role in the movie. She had shot with Mr. Dev Anand for 20 days, and it was an amazing experience for her. But unfortunately, the film never got released. This was the beginning of her booming career. She has done almost 15000 music videos in Gujarati, 15-17 Gujarati movies, a few music videos in Punjabi and Rajasthani as well along with two movies in Bhojpuri. Her first music video was ‘Oui Maa’ in Gujarati. It gave her huge recognition. It was the remix music video, which happened first time in Gujarati. All the songs had separate lead actresses, and she was in one of the songs and was a debutant. But, her song became the most famous giving her huge popularity.

The turning point in life

After doing so many projects in Gujarati, Komal thought its high time that she should move to Bollywood city. She took the courage to shift to Mumbai alone in the year 2014. She was under the wrong idea that since she is very famous in Gujarat, so she will very easily get work even here. But, her misconception was cleared after a year when she understood that to remain in the rat race in Mumbai, one has to continuously prove herself. She started her career in Mumbai as a theatre artist. It was difficult for her because since she was earning huge in Gujarat, but here in Mumbai she had to struggle. But she never worried about it. She bagged her first big theatre role with Tiku Talsania and Sneha Desai. Within a year, she bagged a Bollywood movie ‘My Father Iqbal’ as a lead character with Narendra Jha. That was the turning point of her life. The movie gave her recognition in Mumbai, she earned money and gave more offers.

Her struggles and golden moments in life

Although during her childhood, she and her sisters had to face a lot of struggles mainly for being girls but their mother was always very supportive. She always made her daughters realise that she is beside them, and will always help them to achieve success. It is only because of her mother that the sisters are today successful in their careers as actress, advocate, judge, manager and so on. Her father never said anything about her being an actress, because down the line he was not much happy about it. When they used to sit together and watch any of her work on television, her father always used to go away from that place.

There were many people who scared her by saying that the entertainment industry is not that good. But, her mom made her realise that it’s karma that makes one good or bad. No industry is bad in this world if you give a cent percent to your dedication. The entire scenario changed when she became a bit popular. The neighbours used to whisper among themselves when they saw her on TV but were not sure.

They were not courageous enough to ask her dad about it. But one day they decided to go together and ask her dad about it. It was then that her dad realised that his daughter is famous now. During that time when she was not getting money at the right time, her mom used to give her money. She never stopped supporting her even for a day. Even now, when she is not having work in Mumbai, and get a bit upset about it, she calls her mom and her mom says her to consider these days as her vacation and self-time. Her mom’s words always inspire her and motivate her. This year she is the only Gujarati actress who has been invited to Cannes Film Festival, and it’s a dream come true for her.

Komal is the very first Gujarati actor who walked on the Red Carpet at Cannes Film Festival. Komal started getting ample media attention for her remarkable milestone achievement. Recently, Komal got invited and felicitated by Cabinet Ministers of the Government of Gujarat.

Komal with Speaker Legislative Assembly, Gujarat

Komal with Education Minister, Gujarat — Komal with Speaker Legislative Assembly, Gujarat

Komal, the family girl

Since she never thought of becoming a heroine, and it happened suddenly so she gave her best from day 1. With all the struggles in her life even in Mumbai, she slowly made her own house and bought her car. She always thought that when she will have enough money the first car that she will buy will be for her parents, and she did that. Now she has her own car as well in Mumbai. She promised herself that she will make a bungalow first for her family in Kachchh, and she did that, and then she bought a flat in Mumbai. She believes that parents do everything for us, and when we grow up then it’s our payback time. She is completely a family girl, and whenever she gets time either she visits her family or calls them to Mumbai. She does not have friends and likes to spend her self-time at her own house with her fur baby Taimur. In her leisure time, she binge-watches series and travels a lot.

Her future dreams in life

She feels that she is a very bad PR person. She can never call someone and ask for work. She knows many big directors and producers in Mumbai, but she will never ask for work on her own. She believes that whatever work she gets is because of her merit, and people will call her if she is capable. By God’s grace that happens also. According to her, it is much more important to stay in this industry and do meaningful roles, rather than doing a super hit movie as a heroine in one project and then vanishing away. So, she always says to herself that she wants to work till the last day of her life, and wants people to remember her as a good performer after her death rather than being a superstar.

Her advice to the readers

Always be yourself and love yourself. She advised the readers to have self-confidence because only then others find you confident enough. It is always advisable to accept as you are, rather than having an inferiority complex.