Breakthrough Star of the Year 2023: Wamiqa Gabbi on variety of Jubilee, Khufiya, and connecting with diverse audiences

Wamiqa Gabbi has been everywhere in 2023 – from theatres to streaming platforms, and across languages too. She began the year with a Punjabi film, wowed the audiences with her starlet act in a Hindi period musical web series, showed her acting chops in a slice-of-life Tamil anthology, became a quirky private eye, and eventually rounded off the year in a Vishal Bhardwaj film. That is enough to be someone’s career highlights. Wamiqa managed all that in 12 months. Though she has been around for a long time, 2023 was the year when the actress succeeded in becoming a household name, breaking through in every way possible.

It’s hard to point what has been Wamiqa’s best work this year. In Prime Video’s Jubilee, her Niloufer had layers of ambition and tragedy interspersed with romance. In Vishal Bhardwaj’s Netflix film Khufiya, she brought to the fore the desperation of a wronged mother, and in between was her composed act as a woman looking after her ex in Modern Love Chennai. The diversity of genres and languages – that shoul be the envy of many of her contemporaries – makes Wamiqa filled with gratitude. “I hope it continues like this because this is art. If I was a painter, I would not make the same painting every day. I would want to make different paintings each time. Only then is it fun. I just want that in what I am doing – acting, playing characters – I can do something new,” she says.

The actress says she realizes she is lucky to get back-to-back opportunities like these. “I am just happy I am able to do that because we all want to do this but not everybody gets these kinds of opportunities. I feel really grateful and lucky,” she says, before adding, “That’s why I do this job.”

After a brief role in Jab We Met at the age of 13, Wamiqa appeared in a few other bit roles before her first major outing in the 2013 Punjabi film Tu Mera 22 Main Tera 22 in 2013. This led to a number of Tamil and Telugu films and success in Punjabi films with the Nikka Zaildar series. In 2021, she crossed over to Hindi with the web series Grahan and has since established herself on the streaming space. The actress says she is very aware of her long journey to this spot. But she adds that the slow progress has made her learn a lot.

She says, “My life has transformed very slowly and I am really happy about it. I don’t feel that I should have seen all that change after just one role. I am so glad that it has happened slowly and steadily where I have learnt so much through the experiences I have had.”

The diversity in her work, across languages, platforms, and mediums, has meant that she has been able to reach out to a larger set of audience. Talking about that, Wamiqa says, “It’s been beautiful. I have such different audience for Jubilee, Charlie Chopra, Grahan, and for my Punjabi films that it’s a beautiful space to be in. I think I have tried to connect with different set of audience slowly and I find that the best way to be. All my roles have kind of contributed in changing my life. They continue to do so.”

She looks back at her 2023 with gratitude and a hope for an even better future ahead. The actress tells us, “I am overwhelmed and grateful that I got beautiful opportunities and amazing experiences with all the amazing directors I have worked with. I wish this feeling continues in the coming years. I have learnt so much not just as an actor but also as a human being. These are the experiences that grow your thinking, your emotional intelligence.”

But more than anything else, Wamiqa says she values the love and validation she has received from the audience. “I have gained a lot and not just professionally. I am happy that the way I have loved my characters, the audience has loved them the same way. That’s a beautiful feeling to have,” she says, signing off.