‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein 2’ actor Nikhil Pandey talks about the challenging times of his career: ‘I was on the verge of giving up acting’ - Exclusive

Nikhil Pandey is a jack of all trades; he is not just an actor but a musician as well. For the unversed, he is the singer and lyricist of ‘Deewana Deewana’ from ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein’. In an exclusive conversation with ETimes, he opened up about his journey of getting the song ready, whose seed was planned in Season 1.
“When I received the audition script for Season 1, it mentioned that my character performs a rap for Shikha (played by Shweta Tripathi), followed by a dialogue sequence. However, the rap lyrics weren’t provided. So, I wrote my own rap for the test. Sidharth Sengupta sir (the director) loved it, and it ended up being used in the scene, which was well-received by the audience,” stated the actor.
He continued, “For Season 2, when I saw another rap scene in the script, I decided to take the initiative and write it myself as part of my preparation. I recorded it on my phone and sent it to Sidharth sir for reference. He loved it once again, but this time, he allowed me to record it in a studio as part of the song ‘Deewana Deewana. That became my first credit as a lyricist and singer, which felt like a gift from Sidharth sir.”
This narration gives the impression that Nikhil had a very smooth ride in his career. However, the actor has faced his own fair share of obstacles. He shared that he spoke to us about the tough times of his career: "One of the most challenging phases was when I was on the verge of giving up acting. I was doing television at the time, but I wasn’t creatively satisfied. While I’m grateful for the work I did in TV—it helped me sustain myself in Mumbai—it didn’t fulfill me as an artist. I decided to stop taking on new projects and focus on films, but they weren’t coming consistently either.”
“Since I didn’t come from a formal acting school, getting audition calls was tough. Then COVID happened, and the industry landscape changed. With the rise of OTT platforms and the introduction of self-tape auditions, casting directors had more bandwidth to review a larger pool of actors. This gave me a chance to prove myself,” he added.
In such challenging times, ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ came as a ray of hope, and gradually things started falling in the right place. “I landed a one-scene role in ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein’ Season 1. Surprisingly, that one scene opened more doors for me than I could have imagined. During the tough times, I focused on self-improvement—learning art forms like Kalaripayattu and Indian classical music, and reading extensively,” he said
“Looking back, I realize that period of introspection made me a better actor,” concluded the actor.