With eight upcoming films ahead, Wamiqa Gabbi is a star everyone has their eyes on. An exclusive conversation with Aakanksha Naval-Shetye reveals her as a star defined by process, perspective, and a quiet wisdom shaped by a deep understanding of life. This is Wamiqa Gabbi like you’ve never known before!
There’s a quiet momentum to Wamiqa Gabbi’s rise — one that doesn’t need to announce itself loudly, yet refuses to be ignored. As the year unfolds, she finds herself standing at an extraordinary juncture: eight films in the pipeline, six set to release this year alone including biggies Bhoot Bangla, DC, G2, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Tiki Taka and a body of work that spans languages, industries, and sensibilities. And yet, when she speaks of it all, there is no sense of false pompousness or grandstanding — only clarity, grace, an unmistakable gratitude that comes from a sense of deep understanding of life, and driven by a definitive pathway guided by her love for her craft of acting!
Rooted deeply in the arts right from childhood, shaped by theatre, literature, classical dance and music, and a father who believed in the power of stories, her journey into acting feels less like a career choice and more like a natural progression. Long before the spotlight found her, she was already learning how to listen, observe, and inhabit emotion. Acting, for her, was never a choice — it was a continuation.
From her early impact in Punjabi cinema to her breakout Malayalam turn in Godha, the aching vulnerability of Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam in Tamil, and memorable work in Telugu cinema, she has consistently crossed borders with ease. In Hindi, her nuanced performances have been quietly revelatory — from the layered restraint of Grahan to the bruised, beautiful complexity of Jubilee, and the simmering intensity she brought to Khufiya and later in Baby John and Bhool Chuk Maaf, each role feels deliberate, each performance a recalibration — adapting, absorbing, and evolving with each new space she enters.
What truly sets her apart is not just her range, but her refusal to be boxed in or be defined by it. She resists labels, sidesteps comfort, and approaches every film as a chance to begin again. Wisdom far beyond her age, there is a rare openness in the way she works — absorbing new languages, new rhythms, new cinematic sensibilities — without ever losing her center. And her dedication to her craft is phenomenal.
Moving seamlessly through industries that speak in different tongues — both literal and creative — she has built her career on patience rather than spectacle, depth rather than noise. Success for her is less about stardom and more about depth, measured less by stardom and more by honesty, growth, and the work itself.
As she steps into her first cover moment with us, there’s no denying that this is not a peak, but a powerful ascent. In an industry constantly searching for authenticity, she stands out as a star — one whose most exciting chapters are only just beginning and her rise doesn’t clamor for attention, but steadily commands it. Excerpts!
You are starting the year on such a high note… You have as many as eight movies in the pipeline, six of which are confirmed to release this year and many more that you are looking to sign. And this is your first cover with us… How special is all of this, what’s your headspace like?
Very special! These days, I am very overwhelmed in life. A lot of things are happening, which I didn’t know or didn’t expect. But a lot of things are happening all at once. And I think it’s only after some time that you realize that I must have imagined that this will also happen maybe years ago. But then I got so busy with work that slowly now when all these dreams started coming true, I don’t have the time to celebrate! This is also one of those moments where I’ll be on the cover and I didn’t realize when this happened.
“I always want people to see me in a new role each time and be surprised that this is the same girl who did something completely different before.”
Yes, it’s happening and it’s amazing! Going back to how it all started… Did you always want to be an actor? Was your room filled with posters and that kind of a fan thing?
No, it was not filled with posters. But I always went to see theatre plays with my father. He made sure that arts were a part of our upbringing. So watching plays, learning Kathak, learning classical singing, painting, I was always very much connected to arts since childhood and I did it all. My father is also a writer, a literary one, not a filmy one, as he describes himself, so there was always a very strong, natural bent towards films and this world of arts, theatre and literature. I didn’t learn painting, I didn’t learn acting, but I can act and do painting. I had read this somewhere that art comes from life. And whatever you want in your life, that becomes the art that you live and can do. So I think I always wanted this and that’s why it’s happening to me to be very honest.
When you decided to pursue acting, was there a kind of role or a filmmaker in mind… Like you want to be a YRF heroine or work with Anurag Kashyap or Vishal Bhardwaj?
Yes. Vishal Bhardwaj was a dream and it’s been fulfilled four times. But yes, Imtiaz Ali is a dream, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s a dream. Yash Raj and Anurag Kashyap also. I love watching Anurag Kashyap’s cinema, but right now, the point where I am in life, I’m more curious and more fascinated with love stories. And I don’t think Anurag Kashyap is making a love story right now. But yes, Imtiaz Ali, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Aditya Chopra… these are the filmmakers that I’m really looking forward to working with.
As a teen actor, things can be very overwhelming, but as a young actor too it’s a lot to navigate in this industry especially because you don’t belong to a film family. Was there some kind of a lesson that you learned early on that has stayed till date?
The one major lesson I’ve learned, and that I had to learn many times over and I’m still learning, and getting better at it, event by event, film by film and it’s the most beautiful thing, which is patience!
“I think patience is the key and it is most important. You can’t always have things your way. And you can’t always expect everything to go your way or to happen at a certain time when you want it. So, I think the biggest lesson is patience and not just this. Even when you’re angry, take that pause. You don’t have to respond right away, you don’t have to react right away! Have patience. So I think patience worked for me in a lot many ways on this journey.”
And what has been the biggest challenge for you from then to now?
Understanding myself. And I think that is one challenge that every human being faces in life. Some people become aware of it, some people don’t. Luckily, I am blessed enough to be aware of it, and I feel that this should be every person’s biggest challenge of their lives, which is to know yourself more, to be honest to yourself. You can lie to people, but you should never lie to yourself. I think that is very important and can be challenging.
A lot of the pan India audience woke up to your talent when they saw Jubilee and Khufiya.. But what was the game-changer for you, what did you think changed the perception of you as an actor in the industry?
I don’t know. I think not everybody has a game-changer moment. I feel with me it’s going to be an ever-changing journey, and I hope that with every film I change my game. That’s my motive. I keep challenging myself with my craft, and I know there is so much to learn and experience. It’s a long journey. And why do we do it? It is only to experience magic!
And I hope that I learn more, and keep doing my best with every film. So I hope that every film becomes a game-changer for me because when I did Jubilee, I didn’t want people to just look at me from that lens only, or with a Grahan, or with a Bhool Chuk Maaf, or with a Baby John. I always want people to see me in a new role each time and be surprised that this is the same girl whom we last saw do something totally different! Maybe I won’t be successful right now, but hopefully soon, I’m doing my best!
Not just Bollywood, you’ve also traversed across Punjabi cinema, then there’s Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu. And each of these must have been like a reset for you? How did you navigate through all of these, what’s kept you motivated and power through with strength?
I don’t know how to explain it. You know, all these words, strength, motivation, or patience, or whatever. All these are very strong words and they don’t come alone. It’s never just one thing. Even if I talk about strength, then it also includes empathy, kindness, sensitivity, and so many things under strength. I feel it’s a lot of things. The main motive is to keep working on yourself, to keep improving and to keep becoming a better person. I think then your art, your life, everything flourishes. The only work one has is to become a better person in life. It’s just that because I’m an actor, my tool of work is my body, my voice!
With 8 movies in the pipeline, it must be hectic juggling all of it?
Yes, these past few months have been just so hectic, where I’m just doing some or the other thing and I’m just busy jumping from one character to another and I enjoy every shoot. When I’m not shooting, the body just gives up on me and it’s like just don’t get out of the bed (laughs). But when the shoots stretch to 12 hours or more, I’m fine as long as we’re in it and my body powers through it magically. The moment the shoots are done, the body just gives up and the exhaustion takes over! But then again you tell me I have to get back to shoot and suddenly all my energy just comes back, no matter the hours. Even I don’t know where this strength is hidden, but on set something happens with me. I think it’s just my pure love for this craft that has taught me so much. And I’m very lucky to be an actor whose only job is to become a better person. I think the more empathetic you become, the more kind you become, the more sensitive you become, the better you understand your own characters that are given to you. So that becomes something you enjoy inspite of the hectic hours!
Are you a director’s actor. How’s the equation there?
My relationship with my directors are like sacred relationships. Like, for me on set, I can rely on my director, and my director can rely on me. That’s sacred.
You must’ve got a lot of advice when you started off. Is there one advice that you thank God you didn’t listen to?
There are so many of them. Like I remember when I was in the 11th class, and Sony was auditioning girls in Chandigarh for a TV show. I went, got shortlisted and got finalized. And they were offering me good money too – almost a crore per year! I come from a middle-class family, so obviously this was unbelievably big money I could’ve made. But I said I don’t want to do it. So many people told me I was making a mistake, but my father backed me. I told them, this is not what I want to do!
“Because I was dreaming of Paro and Chandramukhi and Devdas, and Geet and Aditya. So, I think I made the best decision by not listening to anyone else. Because if I had done that TV show then yes, I would’ve earned a lot of money, could have a house in Mumbai, and would have been financially sorted. But I don’t think I would have had the hunger which I have right now.”
So much respect for that… It takes a lot to say no!
But I was in 11th class Aakanksha. It was impossible for a person like me to have any knowledge or any wisdom to take that decision. So, I feel it was not me, but the universe. It was who you call God. It was Him. Otherwise, why would a girl at 17 think like that! I still don’t know why I said no. I still feel that something happened that day that I said no!
From then to now, with the kind of success that you have seen… What has changed for you? Do you see a difference in the way people approach you today versus 10 years back?
Of course, their behavior and all that has changed because you are doing well in life, which is very human, and it’s fine. It happens with everyone. So, yes, people look at you differently, their perspective has changed. But the best thing for me has been the kind of things I have learned about myself in this journey. That is my biggest takeaway from this cinematic journey. I’ve learned a lot. And it is something that I’ll always cherish.
It has made me realize that it has changed my definition of success. Like, I still don’t know if I’m successful because now I feel, ‘okay, this is not success’ now what I want to achieve has changed from when I had started. So, my definition of success is constantly evolving too. When I was in Chandigarh, this small-town girl, who doesn’t come from a film family or doesn’t have any contacts, to imagine if I will ever be able to do a film in my life? Then that happened and I was able to do it. And then I wanted to do more films and it happened. Everything kept happening. So for me, every goal, basically, in my head, I was achieving success at every goal. So, the definition of success kept changing for me. And it should change.
Raising the bar?
Well, I think it’s more than raising the bar. It’s more about going deeper into it. It’s what I want for myself, so I look at it from a very selfish perspective. This is just mine. I’m enjoying this. And I’ll keep doing this. So now do I consider becoming a bigger star or becoming a bigger actor, becoming a richer person? Am I going to count that as success? I don’t think so. I feel that my focus in life, my perspective about life has improved.
There’s a lot of depth in your outlook towards life. Does it come from your dad and literature-rich upbringing?
Yeah, because everything that comes from literature has a view beyond the immediate materialistic goals in life. And yes, definitely my father. He was obviously my first teacher, my first guru. So my first guru’s lessons have obviously set the base for my understanding of life. But I would also like to credit all the good people that have come in my life. Sometimes disguised as friends, sometimes disguised as my directors, sometimes disguised as just somebody that I met randomly for like 10 minutes. And they said something which stayed with me, even if I never met that person again. So there are too many things that contribute. Just having good people in your life can really do magic in your life. So, this is me. I keep talking about this at home too. I talk about Osho, about death! And by death, I mean, it’s just you understanding the importance of life, because death is the most uncertain thing. Every time I feel stressed out about something, I remind myself how fragile life is. I remind myself about death, and my problems become really small. There are people who are suffering from bigger things. That’s why even when people ask me, tell us about your struggle. I’m like, what struggle? Obviously, I can write down a book if I wanted to be so narcissistic like that, I can write down a book about my struggles. But I don’t want to. Because I am still more privileged than a lot of other people. I am getting food. I have a place to live. Beautiful parents – So I’m still at a better position!
What’s your take on dating and love?
I think even finding love has a lot to do with how you are as a person. This is tried and tested in my life. And I understood this, that all you have to do is work on yourself. The kind of energy that you carry within you, you will find the same energy. You will attract the same energy around you. And it has been true in my case, even in terms of work. I mean, in terms of work as in the people that I’ve met at work.
And even romantically, I feel I am only getting attracted to the kind of people that will add something to my life that I will get inspired from. I don’t think that even if I’m in a room full of really handsome, eligible men, I will only get attracted to that energy. And I think it’s all about working on yourself. This is what I’ve learned. This is what I’ve understood about life till now. You become a good person, you’ll find a good partner. So that’s what I am doing right now in my life for my work. Hopefully, personally, it will have an effect too.
What part of this phase are you most excited about?
Pura. All of it. This phase is a very special phase of my life. Every moment, every film is very important to me and I’m living it and loving every bit of it.