From doing plays with Dilip Joshi and Disha Vakani to debuting on TV with Smriti Irani; A look at Taarak Mehta's Bagha aka Tanmay Vekaria's early struggles and journey

Tanmay Vekaria, best known as Bagha in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, has come a long way from his acting dream in school. The actor is the son of renowned artist Arvind Vekaria. In a podcast, Tanmay got candid about his financial struggles in the family to hunting for roles in TV. He also shared how he bagged Bagha and the list of cameos he did before bagging the hit role.

I come from Kandivali, and I grew up in a lower-middle-class family. We had a small family, my mom, dad, me and my brother Manveet. He is currently a chartered accountant and settled in Australia. My father, Arvind Vekaria is a renowned artist in Gujarati theatre. The acting keeda in me has come from my father when I used to see him perform on the stage.

In 1999 after completing my graduation, I started hunting for a role. I went to all the production houses in Aaram Nagar and gave them my portfolios and auditioned to ask for a role. However, things didn't work out at that time. That continued for 1-1 and a half years and I didn't have any income despite being a graduate.

The challenge then began, my father was ageing and my younger brother was still studying. There was barely any income that used to come from my father's shows so then he asked me to focus on seeking a job. I took that seriously to support the family and I started working with my uncle, he gave me a job for Rs 700 with a 2nd class train pass. I was doing theatre parttime, but I was getting disappointed there. My plays weren't working, so I decided to quit.

Dilip Joshi aka Jethalal was directing a play and I got a chance to work with him for a small role. However, I was 30 years old by then and got married. I had a daughter and despite all of those responsibilities, there was no fixed income. I used to get those Rs 700 monthly and around Rs 30,000 yearly from my part-time jobs. My parents were getting old and my daughter's responsibility, I found it very difficult to achieve all those goals. That play got me recognition, next, I got a play where Dayaben aka Disha Vakani was cast as the lead with me and my acting career finally began.

I started with Gujarati TV shows where the maximum I earned was Rs 1200 per day. By then in the Hindi TV industry Asit Bhai, and JD Majethia bhai had begun with their shows and they gave me a chance to do cameos in their shows. I did cameos in shows like Baa Bahoo Aur Baby, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai and all. I came in contact with Rajan Waghdhare who gave me small roles in shows like Yes Boss.

I got recognition on TV with the show Maniben.com, I was playing a deaf younger brother to Smriti Irani. In that one year, I learnt a lot about TV. I was continuing with Theatre as well, so while juggling there have been times when I have shot the TV show till evening, rushed on a flight to Gujarat and performed my play there and returned the same night. This continued for 3-4 months. After Maniben, I realised that it was difficult to juggle between both. I then quit theatre.

After Maniben, for next 4 months I did not have any work. I didn't even get a call for any audition. In that duration, I got a chance to work with JD bhai, Atish bhai was writing the role. After shooting for 1-2 months, the show was scrapped. I was stressed about how would I manage everything financially. I had almost decided to go back to the accountancy job and I came to know about Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

I contacted the creative director of the show, asked for work and went to the set and I got the role of a police inspector in the credit card track for 3 days. I had earlier done a few cameos for Taarak Mehta. I was waiting by the lift and I met Sohil bhai, he asked me about the role I was doing and asked me not to do that. He introduced Bagha's character to me and I auditioned for it. Since I had worked with Dilip sir before in theatre we had good chemistry together.

I was inspired by someone who used to actually stand and behave like Bagha, I showed this to Asit and Dilip bhai, and they found it funny and unique. From the first shot, they told me that it was a hit character and it would create a benchmark. On 27th June 2010, the first episode that aired, my life changed overnight afer playing the character. The cameo then turned into a confirmed cast and it became one of the important characters of the show.