With stars in the eyes

It is a launch that every actor dreams of when he or she is set to enter the big world of cinema. Leena Yadav’s Teen Patti will see not one but four newcomers sharing screen space with Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley. “It’s a dream come true,” the bunch of newcomers say ecstatically.

If Amitabh and Kingsley brought in maturity into the film, Siddharth Kher, Dhruv Ganesh, Vaibhav Talwar and Shraddha Kapoor added the element of fresh innocence.

A mere call for auditions had got these four into a trance. They received grilling training under theatre personalities Barry John and Roysten Abel, which prepared them to get under the skin of each of their character.

In the City to promote their film, they said they would never forget the moment when they met Big B for the first time. “Though we were well-prepared and trained for our roles, we were very nervous acting opposite him,” says Dhruv Ganesh. Dhruv plays a character called Bikram, who comes from a very poor, conservative family and dreams of making it big some day.

These young actors say they were blown away when Amitabh came forward and broke the ice. “That was really sweet and  humble of him,” adds Dhruv.

The youngsters, who have a theatre and modelling background, share an interesting story on how they bagged the film. Siddharth Kher (who is not related to Anupam Kher) says, “My dad read an article in the paper about the casting of the film. So, I tried to reach Ambika Hinduja (producer) through some sources but couldn’t get through. I thought it was quite far-fetched to dream of becoming an actor in Mumbai without any connections or ‘knowing people’. So I went for an interview with an airline. They rejected me, which was hard to digest. Later, a friend of mine introduced me to Ambika Hinduja and I auditioned and got the role.

That has been my weird journey so far.” Shraddha Kapoor’s ‘starry’ background, that of being Shakti Kapoor’s daughter, didn’t bother her co-stars. Even during the promotion of the film, they decided to stick by each other. But she is aware of the fact that expectations are bound to be there. “There is pressure as I have to live upto the acting skills of my dad and my aunt, who have established themselves in the industry. I only hope that I can at least achieve two percent of what they have achieved,” says Shraddha, who plays a shy and studious girl in the film.

It was easy for them to get into the roles as it was etched out very well. But some of these actors did take inspiration from people in real life. Like Vaibhav Talwar, who felt that staying alone played a big part in understanding his character in Teen Patti. Vaibhav, who plays a rich spoilt kid called Abbas, says his inspiration was a guy who used to hang out in Khan Market and Chandni Chowk. “As Abbas, I began to understand loneliness, a boy who gets his thrill by getting into dangerous situations,” adds Vaibhav.