In January 2019, millions of Indians wanted to know who she was. Promos for the second season of Gandii Baat―an ALT Balaji web series featuring erotic stories from rural India―had just come out, and one of its female leads was already an internet sensation. There were more than three crore searches in just a few hours for Anveshi Jain. She was the most Googled person that month in India.
This long-awaited moment of fame, though, was also one of the lowest points in her life. Reflecting on it now, Jain sees those challenges as life’s way of making her stronger, bolder and wiser.
Recently, her single ‘Banjaare’ crossed one million views on YouTube in its first week. Becoming a musician, in fact, was her first dream. “I was born in a small village near Khajuraho,” she says. “I did not have much exposure to music because my parents were professors, and my father was strict. We had a cassette player, but we were never allowed to use it as he didn’t like music.”
Despite her father’s reservations, Jain began taking part in cultural activities at school. “My mom told him a child needs to be active in various fields,” she says. “I was allowed to take music and kathak classes, but if there was a clash with an exam, I wasn’t allowed to participate.”
When Jain was in class ten, her family bought a car with a stereo system. “I was exposed to the music of Lata [Mangeshkar] ji and Jagjit Singh ji, and I thought, if I ever have the freedom to choose my path, I want to become a singer,” she says.
Spreading her wings: Jain during the shooting of Martin.
Acting came into the picture with Titanic. “When I saw Kate Winslet, I thought, ‘How can someone be so beautiful?’” she says. “I thought if I could be anyone in my next life―I didn’t think it was possible in this one―I would want to be an actress. Back then, there were only two career options: engineer or doctor. So, I pursued electrical and electronics engineering.”
By the time she graduated, Jain was certain she didn’t want a salaried job. She moved to Indore, where her brother was studying. “My parents suggested I pursue an MBA before getting married, and started looking for a husband,” she says. “I almost enrolled in an MBA in finance in Indore but realised it would be a mistake―relying on my parents and spending two more years on something I wasn’t passionate about.”
Jain started a small business to prove her independence. She used her pocket money of Rs5,000 to rent a shop near the Sarwate bus stand in Indore. “It was a conceptual store where I sold home decor products and offered design services for cafes and homes,” she says. After a year and a half, she invited her parents to see her shop. They found it too risky and told her to shut it down.
Feeling lost, Jain wrote down her goals, which included hosting events and performing on stage. A friend in event management told there was a shortage of good emcees. “He offered Rs10,000 per event,” she says. “I thought, ‘This is amazing!’” She honed her communication skills, and emceeing began covering her bills. She was so content that she almost forgot about her acting and singing dreams.
Then a fire destroyed her apartment. “I was at an event when I got a call from my neighbours saying I had lost everything―my house, my dog and all my belongings,” she recalls, adding that someone she wasn’t on good terms with was involved. “All I had left was the dress I was wearing and a handbag with 01,800. I called my friends for a place to stay that night, but no one answered.”
posters of G
Her uncle told her parents to get her married, but Jain decided to move to Mumbai instead―she told her parents more than a year later; they thought she was still in Indore. Incidentally, her acting coach from Indore, Mitesh Shah, lived in Borivali. “He offered to let me stay in his small apartment, not even a 1BHK,” she says. “His family was so welcoming that I ended up staying for about four months.” Shah’s wife, Reena, took her to auditions in Andheri on her scooter. Jain soon started getting emceeing gigs.
But it was after three years of auditions that she got Gandii Baat. “I saw the audition as a potential turning point,” she says. “When I met the show’s creators, they asked if I knew what the show was about. I admitted I didn’t. They told me to watch the show and come back the next day if I still wanted the role. I watched it and cried, overwhelmed that I had been selected, but for this.”
She sought advice from Reena, who put it bluntly: “Yes, it’s risky and controversial, but you’re not a star kid with many options.”
Before the series was released, her mother called. “She said someone who looked like me was doing a bold scene with another girl,” Jain recalls. “I confessed to my mom, but my dad remained unaware. Neighbours showed him videos, claiming I had brought shame to them. When he called, I broke down in tears. He didn’t speak to me for six months.”
Jain wrote handwritten letters to her father, apologising repeatedly. “The only condition that convinced him was my promise never to do a show like that again,” she says. However, all she got were similar roles. “I wanted people to see me as a versatile actress, not just be cast for beauty and glamour,” she adds.
Gudiya ki Shaadi
To avoid getting stereotyped, Jain went to the theatre and became part of a play called Gudiya ki Shaadi. “I couldn’t show Gandii Baat to my parents, but when this play aired on television, I did,” she says. “I set up a camera to capture their reactions. They were eating and crying at the same time. That was the moment I had been chasing all my life.... My parents understood that it was all just a body of work and not what defines me.”
In 2020, Jain made her Gujarati debut with the film G, which worked extremely well, and in 2022 appeared in her first Telugu film Commitment. During the pandemic, she launched an app to connect with her fans and hosted an online music show. Fans soon demanded original songs, leading her to record one with composer Viplove Rajdeo in 2021. During the second Covid wave, she put out a poignant song called ‘Jugnu’, which was born out of the pain of seeing her mother hospitalised.
Now, Jain is immersing herself in music while balancing her acting career. Her first Kannada film, Martin, an action thriller starring Dhruva Sarja, is set to release on October 11. Yet, Jain remains reticent about her plans, reflecting on her journey with a sense of quiet resolve. “Sometimes you make elaborate plans and things don’t turn out as expected―something even better might come along.”