Hi guys, can you believe a year has whizzed past me ‒ already? Yeah, on this day exactly a year ago, I landed in Mumbai from London Heathrow via a Kingfisher Airlines flight. So much has happened in that time ‒ err, Kingfisher doesn’t fly international anymore ‒ so today, I thought, I’d present before y’all a round-up of the year that went by!
I so vividly remember the day I landed here. It was scorching, about 30 odd degrees, the summer sun was out in full force, a band of eunuchs bugging me for money right as I stepped out of the departure gate. I remember thinking all throughout the 8-hour plane journey if I was doing the right thing, wondering if this was too big a gamble I took. I mean, I left my home, my family, my profession for this. A noble act or an act of stupidity? Without sounding corny, melodramatic or cheesy, going into the unknown and venturing into unchartered territory, it was proper daunting ‒ but well exciting at the same time!
My goal, today, after a full year in Mumbai, is resolutely the same, still ‒ that is to take Bollywood by storm, baby ‒ and, I think I’m advancing nicely towards it, considering that:
- Hindi is not my first language;
- I have no godfather or links to the film industry;
- I was never, no matter how dire the situation, going to jump on the casting couch.
I remember that after a couple of days of arriving I met a fellow actor who said to me something along the lines of: “For the first 12 months every door will shut in your face and you will not get any work. It will be the most testing time for you”. I psyched myself accordingly for this “worst” phase, all the while hoping for the best. I needn’t have worried, though, as, in the past 366 days, I’ve done a bunch of TVCs, been touring a well-received play with a bunch of great actors and great people, and best of all, got to act in a film. Not to show-off/boast/patronise, I’ve created a little video for you all where I illustrate how I made it all possible, how I created those opportunities for myself. So please, go ahead and watch the video above titled… *cue drum roll*… Tips on Breaking into Bollywood!
And now, even more exciting news 😀 I’ve signed yet another film, titled Main Aur Mr. Right! The mahurat for the film took place last week, which was made all the more special by the golden presence of the great Bappi Lahiri! The cast includes Shenaz Treasurywala, Barun Sobti (that popular TV actor), Kavi Shastri (yep, Muffin from those TATA Sky adverts!) ‒ and yours truly. I’m not allowed to say much about the film yet, but will keep you all posted as and when I get the green signal to 🙂
That’s it for today. Signing off now with an immortal B-Town dialogue: “Picture abhi baki hai, mere dost…”
P.S. Hope I get to utter this, too: “Itni shiddat se tumhe paaney ki koshish ki hai, lagtai har purey zarrey ne tumhe mujhse milaney ki saazish ki hai…”!
P.P.S. And oh, here’s the Sony Handycam TVC that I spoke of in this post…
