I’ve had one of the roughest journeys as a newcomer: Sooraj Pancholi

Sooraj Pancholi, who will be seen in a period drama soon, was in Ahmedabad recently. The actor, who made a promising debut with Hero (2015) but faced major challenges in life after that, has navigated through it all with resilience. In a chat with us, he spoke about how he wants to let his work do the talking, the pressure of being in the limelight and more.

‘I have never been a person who gives up’

Talking about the long break from Bollywood, he shares, “After Satellite Shankar (2019), I was supposed to do a boxing movie (a biopic) and we started shooting. But soon, the first wave of COVID-19 happened followed by lockdown. After the break, when we tried to resume shooting, the second wave hit, and the film eventually got shelved. I think that film was not meant for me. We didn’t know where the industry was heading post pandemic, so it was a slow start again. I was offered scripts, but I didn’t want to do something that wouldn’t offer me the benefits of working hard and something more.”

He adds, “I think you learn from every experience-whether good or bad-and you grow as a person. My journey has definitely been one of the roughest journeys a newcomer can have. But I have never been a person who gives up. I’m blessed to have supportive friends and family members who have kept me going. I have just completed a movie, where I will be sharing screen space with Vivek Oberoi and Suniel Shetty. I am also working on another film with the same producer, so everything is going well. I am also in talks for a web show and want to do good OTT projects.”

‘All my characters have been different from one another’

Talking about the characters he has played, Sooraj says, “So far, all my characters have been different from one another and I haven’t felt typecast. Be it romantic or action films, I have been doing different roles. I am open to all genres and even willing to portray an antagonist. If a script stays with me for two or three days, I definitely want to do that project.”

Recently, Anurag Kashyap had spoken about how Bollywood has become too toxic. Asked about it, he says, “Due to social media, every industry has become slightly toxic, be it business, films or politics. But I think it is part of the game. Anurag is more experienced than me, he must have seen a lot more politics in this industry. I still have a long way to go before I can form an opinion on this.”

He adds, “I fondly remember Jackie Shroff’s advice to me. He told me, ‘Never get emotional about your films, as you finish one and get on to the next. Success and failure will not be in your control, just keep working hard and keep moving forward.’”

-Ancela Jamindar
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