For Harshita Gaur, growing as an actor means getting into the skin of the character, so much so that the audience would remember the character not her. The young actor who shot to fame with the show Sadda Haq on Channel V, is best known for her real-life portrayal of Dimpy in the hit series Mirzapur. “There are many filmmakers and actors I would love to work with, but Zoya Akhtar, Shoojit Sircar and Anurag Kashyap are my favourite filmmakers and Vicky Kaushal and Siddhant Chaturvedi are the ones I’m hoping to work with soon,” gushes the actor. In this candid chat, the pretty young thing shares her beauty secrets, fitness regimen and more. Excerpts:
Tell us about your skin and hair care routine? Any particular products you swear by?
These days my skin is going through phases, it’s a bit sensitive. So, I make sure that I don’t use a lot of products apart from that needed for cleaning, toning and moisturising. I do that twice a day. I use raw milk on my face, it really helps in calming down the face, it’s basically a great toner. I really swear by La Shield SPF 40 sunscreen, besides home remedies such as honey, virgin coconut oil and cornflour.
For hair, I make a mix with hibiscus flowers, virgin coconut oil and a few other things that my mom prepares. What are the beauty essentials that are always in your bag? I always have Vitamin E tint, brown kajal, sunscreen and beetroot lip balm made by mother.
What’s one beauty hack?
A face mask made with wheat flour, cornflour, gram flour, honey, virgin coconut oil and turmeric. Whether I've had a sunburn or tan on my face or if simply I need a mild scrub it just works like magic.
What’s your make-up essential?
It’s just concealer, compact powder, a brown kajal, lip, cheek and eye tint and lastly, my eyebrow pencil.
What’s your fitness and diet regimen?
I just take care of what I’m eating because I eat everything, I also have days when I have cheat meals. But more than being on a proper diet what I really take care of is the quantity that I’m having because you cannot be on a diet for your entire life. I believe in holistic fitness and these days I have physiotherapy going on which takes care of my legs because of the knee injury I suffered last to last year. But otherwise, it’s a little bit of work out, not more than 20 minutes a day.
My daily diet consists of three meals. I wake up, have two full glasses of water and then for breakfast it is poha, chilla or idli after two hours I eat one fruit and then there’s lunch which is typical Indian full course meal- Homemade daal, sabji, ragi roti or rice. For my sweet cravings, I eat one cube of dark chocolate. In the evening around five or six, it’s one glass of coconut water with malai and then usually I finish my dinner between 7 and 8 pm, which is a little lighter than all the other meals, comprising soup and veggies.
The first thing you eat and drink in the morning?
Two glasses of water in the morning.
Your comfort food?
Poha or anything with rice, like daal rice or sambar rice.
Any health shot you swear by?
I take this supplement called progut in the morning before any meal because I have a weak gut.
Your personal fashion choices?
I think it’s mood-based. I like high-waist pants or palazzos and a cropped top or just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt or kurti. I’m really fond of wearing ethnic outfits and my style is minimalistic. I don’t accessorise much but if I do, it’s mostly earrings with Indian outfits. For western outfits, I barely accessorise unless it’s a formal event. I usually wear my hair loose, a bit on the unkempt side. As for my favourite colours, I think yellow is something which really attracts me but my go-to colours are always black and white and a pair of blue jeans. I fall for fabrics with solid colours, single tone or a block colour.
Biggest fashion faux pas according to you?
I think fashion is an extension of yourself, if something does not agree with your persona it’s best to avoid that piece.
sharmishtha.g@newindianexpress.com
@sharmidas