Life before lights, camera and action

It had been harsh seven months since he was appearing for back-to-back auditions. Jobless in the city of dreams, he faced countless rejections. Disappointed but not dejected, Shubham Kapoor was determined to make it big in Bollywood. With enthused vigour he went for every audition with a hope in his heart.

It was another Sunday morning in January for the 23-year-old who positively thought this might be his day as he had to go for an audition which was scheduled at 9 am. Having trained under Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares theatre school in Mumbai, and after actively participating in college theatre, he thought he could at least make it to the short gig in an advertisement that day.

There were around 350 people ahead of him in the queue. One after other rejected faces were coming out from the audition room, and this did affect his morale. Yet he waited for his chance till 7 pm, only to face rejection. Today, he’s working as an assistant director for movie which is directed by Vishwas Pandya and features actors Annu Kapoor, Manish Paul and Kay Kay Menon.

Just like Kapoor, there are many struggling actors who are trying to get the big break in Bollywood and are taking up alternative jobs to earn their bread and butter. “When I got selected for gaana.com’s commercial, I thought that I had finally got my chance to appear on screen. But to my sheer disappointment, I was nowhere to be seen in the commercial,” shares 25-year-old Akansha Pradhan.

She says there are times when one has a lot of shoots and commercials to sustain in the city, but there are times when there is no work at all. So as desperate times call for desperate measures, she tried her hand at catalogue shoots and referral shoots, despite “negative environment” that she faced there.

“A lot of actors opt for such shoots, because they give us cash in hand then and there,” she tells Metrolife. Though agreeing that these shoots won’t help her career in acting, but it would help her in surviving until a “big project” comes her way. There are many like Pradhan who are chasing their Bollywood dreams and have decided to survive in the financial capital, there are people like Amitabh Acharya who have opted to stay out of Mumbai to try different opportunities that help them get monthly pay cheques. On a friend’s suggestion, Acharya gave auditions at Kingdom of Dreams (KoD), where two productions ‘Zangoora’ and ‘Jhumroo’ are staged daily. Though the concern of “stagnancy as an actor” occurred to Acharya initially, he eventually decided to continue with it.

“Performing in front of live audience is something that every actor aspires for. And these productions are like Broadway shows, which is also something new for an actor,” says Acharya adding that it’s like a job, where he is regularly paid for his performances.

While at KoD, Acharya also bagged a role in a Hindi feature film, Murari-The Mad Gentlemen, alongside veteran actor Asrani, Sanjay Singh, Surendra Rajan and Kiran Sharad. Directed by Suzad Iqbal Khan, the film helped Acharya in gaining some learning experience and recognition in the industry.

“There is transparency with the management here, so we get opportunities like this and are also allowed to do some freelance work,” adds Acharya, who feels that going to Mumbai isn’t necessary to get a break in the industry.

But getting that elusive big break isn’t easy for these actors. Delhi-based Shouvik Mondal’s journey in acting had been “pretty smooth”. From TV commercials to a role in K D Satyam’s recent release Bollywood Diaries, Mondal says that even though he has been a part of Bollywood, getting big projects is not easy.

Running a dhaba in Mehrauli, Mondal is currently supporting his family and is trying to collect enough money to go to Mumbai. “I recently got a project to work along with Nawazuddin Siddiqui but couldn’t go for it because I don’t have a passport. Today, you can find me washing utensils in the dhaba, but I know the struggle is worth it. Once I have climbed the ladder, no one will see where do I come from,” he says.