'Mumbai is not always kind to struggling actors'

Haryana boy, Mohit Kumar who made a dream debut last year in the TV show , ' Ek Duje ke Vaaste 2', says he was one of the rare acting aspirants to get a break into the industry so early, i.e within a year of landing in Mumbai. Mohit, who hails from Bhiwani and has no acting background or training, and no acquaintances either in the TV or film industry, got selected to play the lead role of Sharavan in the show after five look tests.

Yet, Mohit says his situation was different from his friend's who hailed from Rohtak and had to return home from Mumbai after many months of getting no work. "How Mumbai treats everyone is different, it's destiny that some get acting work, while others are disappointed. And everyone goes through the disappointing periods of no work, even I did. For about 3-4 months there was nothing happening for me and I was also beginning to get a little depressed. Surviving in Mumbai without work is tough, it's an expensive city and can leave you lonely. Mumbai is not always kind to struggling actors," says Mohit who worked in ad commercials for a year before getting the TV break.

Mohit, who was academically bright in school and college days, (he scored 98% in Boards), also attributes the feeling of alienation in Mumbai to the fact that, "A lot of people who come to Mumbai to be actors have done do so by going against their families and thus are also left with no family support once they reach Mumbai. That compounds the loneliness." He also speaks of the limitations of being from regions outside Mumbai that can be detrimental to being absorbed readily by the industry. "For instance, I being from Haryana had a really heavy Haryanvi accent. I took acting and Hindi diction classes for nearly four months to learn. Only then could I crack auditions, and before that acting auditions were a disaster," he laughs.

Soon after the lockdown ended, Mohit returned to Mumbai from Bhiwani to resume shooting for the show. "Thankfully, our show was planned in a manner that about 250 episodes will be shot in Bhopal , not Mumbai. So, once we resumed we came to Bhopal, instead of shooting in Mumbai, where the Covid situation is pretty scary right now." Coming from a business family in the Haryana hinterland, Mohit says the concept of pursuing a career in acting is very alien to his family. "My parents didn't even know what modelling is initially. They wanted me to be a doctor, so I cracked MBBS entrance test after plus two and got admission too but soon gave it up realising its not my cup of tea. Then I pursued BBA from Bhiwani before going to Delhi to be a model and eventually moving to Mumbai to be an actor."