I connect to a wide spectrum of audience because I come from middle-class background: Actor Karanvir Sharma

I was born and raised in Mumbai. I come from a middle-class background, and I think one of the reasons that I connect to a wide spectrum of audience is because of that. I have seen highs and lows, not only in the industry but life as well. And I think it is that, where I derive my potential as an actor from. To be honest, I started my career in early 2000’s. I just wanted to be a part of the industry. I used to bunk college and go to movies, that’s when I realized that this is something which I want to be a part of. Obviously acting was not the forefront. I used to find odd jobs for pocket money, for something like Rs. 2000 of salary a month. I used to do everything, I used to be a production executive, at least they called me that, but I used to be a spot boy, editor, and many other things. I dropped from MBA, because I knew that I was not 100 % into that so, I wouldn’t be able to do justice with that. And I have a philosophy, ‘Whether I am involved 100%, or I am not involved at all’

Eventually, I wanted to assist people, to understand what to do in this industry. I wanted to do direction, but I became an actor. And I have been in this industry for almost two decades now. I was in my teens when I started out. As an actor, it’s been 10 years in this industry. Unofficially, I have done a lot of work for a lot of people. Officially, I have done a music video, which is one of the trending songs, ‘Jo Tera Hoyega’. I have supervised that in editing and directed that too. I only pick projects which I can do justice with. It was a rather successful project, I received lot of love from fans. From the past 2 years, I have seen a little bit of growth, not only as a performer, but I also received recognition which is required for sustainability.

My experience was tough and easy at the same time. The easiest part was to work with a friend. Behzad Khambata is a very dear friend, we are like brothers. I did a film ‘Azhar’, in which I played the antagonist. In that film, Behzad was the associate, and from there I was sure that this person is going to do great things. I was very happy when he called me for his first film, ‘Blank’. It was released around 2-2.5 years ago. From Blank till now, I have seen him achieving great things, both professionally and personally. I think he has become better from what he was in Blank. The thing about RSVP and Blue Monkey Films is that they always keep their team intact. These kind of things give you comfort; it makes you walk the extra mile. That was easy, what was not easy was the shoot during pandemic, so had to take a pause because of it. And shooting in rain was not easy. I did a film which was shot mostly in rain in 2014. After that, I didn’t want to do that kind of shoot. While shooting for ‘A Thursday’ whenever we needed rain, it wasn’t raining and when we didn’t require rain it kept pouring down. It was very tricky. The difficult part was I was shooting for a very big, hit show ‘Shaurya Aur Anokhi Ki Kahani’. So, I had to manage both. In movies, sometimes there is continuity and sometimes there isn’t. What happened with Behzad that, in both films, Blank and A Thursday the storyline is of one day. There was a single outfit for the whole shoot and in both films the name of the character was Rohit. So, maybe he likes the name Rohit, or he wants to see his artist in a single avatar. But it becomes so difficult to match continuity because my shoot days were spread across months. For me as a performer, I didn’t want to break the continuity. These things were a big challenge. Plus, I had just recovered from Covid, so it was another task to manage all this.

To be honest, I am a director/actor. One piece of information which I think everyone who is trying for this industry should know is that one should always know their lines well as a performer. You need to practice your lines as a ritual. After that you should forget them and leave it to the director about how they feel about it. Behzad had great confidence in me, especially in the emotional scenes, even I was not that confident. While doing the first interrogation scene, Behzad took my script and put it aside, and said to both of us to do the scene without it, which gave us room for improvisation during the scene. Behzad is really good, he knows how to get great performances out of his artists. Apart from it, I did a lot of research and spoke to some criminal lawyers to gain their perspective. So, if you have noticed during the interrogation scene, he is very sharp and serious towards Javed Khan’s character initially, but gradually he becomes more emotional. That’s how it was.

It’s everywhere not only in Bollywood. The difference is that it takes 2 years for children of established actors to reach a certain level and it takes 10 years for people like us to attain that very same level. Both of us will achieve success because audience understands and appreciates good work. They want good cinema; they want good performers. You must be willing to perform despite the roles that you get. I am an actor; I am a performer, and I am a character.

I have received recognition in these last 2 years and that’s because of my hard work. I have to thank people like Behzad. I am indebted for life.

The only major difference is that of time. Movies usually take longer to shoot, technically. But, in case of television shoot you have to consistently and quickly finish your shoots, because it has to be telecast on a daily basis. Hence, there is always that pressure. At the same time, in movies, the review comes only once, but, in TV shows, it is reviewed weekly. Next is, television shows are shot in linear format but in movies, the latter scenes in the timeline can be shot first and the initial scenes afterwards. And later they are combined sequentially on the editing table. Television is more of a writer’s medium, more dominantly than anyone else and films are the director’s medium.

I want to reach ‘Mannat’, just kidding, although I will click a photograph of it from the outside. To be honest, I want to be a performer, in the coming years, that people would want to see me for my performances and the originality which I would bring to the character. I want to be known as that actor. That is my true ambition. Of course, I want to offer all the worldly happiness to my parents, which requires money. But I think, as of now, I am doing well, and I have no complaints. I think I have those standard and typical actor’s goal, that every other actor has. In the next 5-10 years I want to do quality work, that’s what I want to do.

I want to play a superhero. I fancy superheroes a lot. I am a big fan of the current superheroes all over the world. The most interesting hero for me in ‘Mahabharata’ is ‘Karna’. If you see, he is like one of those underrated Kshatriyas. I would love to play him and obviously after that, I have never done a double role. I would also love to do that.

I am currently filming for a web series with Mr Sunil Shetty. It is called Invisible Woman. I am playing the role of a police officer, again. It’s produced by SaReGaMa and Yoodlee films , great company.