Even as star kids continue to enjoy easy passes into acting
careers in Bollywood, actor Sidharth Malhotra tells there are more than enough
opportunities for youngsters whose families are not a part of the movie
industry.
At the inauguration of a casting studio started by famous
casting director Mukesh Chhabra (who was instrumental in Sidharth being cast in
his next movie Ek Villain), Sidharth rejected the belief that newcomers with no
family connections to the industry have a hard time finding a foothold, and
declared, “I have got the best launch in the last three years; I got launched
by Dharma Productions! I cannot say that outsiders are not making it!”
Encouraging strugglers to see the brighter side, he further added, “There are
so many new producers and a vast increase in the number of films being made, so
now everyone is getting opportunities. Of course, nothing is easy but
opportunities have increased. The rest depends on your talent.”
Success did not come easy for the Ek Villain actor either as
he too had to go through a series of auditions to prove his talent before he
finally got the break in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year. He remembered, “I
was shooting for My Name is Khan (as an assistant director) when Karan Johar
observed Varun (Dhawan) and me. He made us audition not once but six times! He
made us dance, act, cry and only when he truly believed that we had potential,
he finalised us.” With a laugh, Sidharth reveals, “My first audition was
terrible … I had to do the same audition four times just to convince them that
I could do the job.”
Sidharth, who has been playing the good boy in his movies so far will be seen
as a gangster in Ek Villain, and he thanked Mukesh for helping him with the
role. Sidharth declared that he was able to pull of the role in a better way
thanks to a workshop with Mukesh. He told, “Mukesh teaches a lot. He made us
(Shraddha Kapoor and me) do crazy stuff during the workshops so that we could
perform our characters better.”
The well-known casting couch might take a backseat in the
days of professional casting agencies. Sidharth definitely believes the casting
couch is old news. He told, “I think it (the casting couch) is very passé. I
never had to experience anything like that. Maybe it happened ages ago. I don’t
think anyone would spend so much money on another just for personal favors.”