Just Be in The Moment And Keep Going

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I’m from Jaipur, The Pink City, I started my journey at the age of 17, did my first ramp show in Jaipur offered by one of my seniors in school. It was so fun that felt like doing something like that again. In the next 6 months I did 4-5 ramp shows in Jaipur it self. I started going to the gym and started reading books, writing short stories. After my 12th standard I felt like trying Theatre as well. And I did, for around 9-10 months, from Ravindra manch.

I did at least 8 plays and I just loved that experience, I felt so good, it was a life changing experience for me. After a few months I felt this is what I want to do in life, I want to act. I want to know and Experience more about acting. And then I came to the City of Dreams, not knowing much, I wasn’t even ready for the city, but I wanted to learn.

Learn from my Experiences, from the failures on my own. I started giving auditions for 6 months straight but I wasn't able to get any work. I was getting into depression, because I was giving my 100% and even then there were no results. I was very sad one night, talking to mum about all this, that very second I got a call from a production house “You’ve got the commercial” and I legitimately started dancing.

After my first commercial there was no turning back for me. I did a lot of commercials for Grand Hyatt, Hiranandani, Amazon Prime, Reliance and many other big brands. After doing these commercials/prints I started getting offers for Music Videos for which I excitingly said YES! I shot for two music videos- “Noor” for T-series, “Jaate hue pal” for Zee music, which turned out to be great. I was getting a lot of work at a time but then I had to change my look for a project of our own (me and my friend’s movie), missed on a lot of work because of my changed look (Moustache).

Again started giving auditions in this look, and just like that this happened I was locked for the character “Kaushik” in Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2. It’s been a month now that we’re shooting, taking all the precautions and safety measurements. Loving the crew and the co-actors, everyone is full of warmth and family like. There’s already a good bond with everyone on sets. It’s really fun shooting with Jeetu sir, he’s an amazing director, love working with him.

2. Did you ever think or dream of being an actor?

I used to perform in Annual Functions and Exhibitions in School but I never thought about becoming an actor. All I did was I kept going towards the direction which I liked, I loved performing in theatre so I just knew what I gotta do next. I never used plan, I still don’t. Doing something is better than dreaming about it. I always say “The present moment is all we ever have, so just be in the moment and keep going”.

3. How can one approach their career and have the confidence and belief to become an actor?

I’ve been getting messages from Aspiring actors from Jaipur asking me the same thing. No actor can help another actor in terms of giving work, they can definitely give them advice regarding the career. I’d say start with theatre, read a lot of books, read play or movie scripts, and when you think you’re ready come to mumbai and start giving auditions, give at least 4-5 auditions per day, could be self tests as well. When I was doing theatre I used read this quote everyday- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there”. So, you might not have to do any of that if you believe in oneself. I’ve seen great actors who are not from any theatre or acting background, but they are so natural when they act, it’s their belief.

4. If not this, what would you be doing?

I used to play a lot of football during my school days, I wanted to become a footballer when I was in 8th or 9th standard.

Now, I’d say I love travelling. So if not this I would be a traveller ;)

5. For a complete outsider with inroads, what advice would you like to give?

Give your 100% without giving any damn about the result. If you keep giving your best towards your goal the universe will give you much more than you’re looking for.

6. What is your mantra of success?

The strongest factor of success is Self-Esteem: Believing you can do it, Believing you deserve it and Believing you will get it. It all starts with BELIEVING... :)

7. Which is your favorite book and why?

I actually started reading books after my 12th standard. Quite an irony? Guess so. There are a lot of books I don’t know about but I really like reading Psychological books, some of my favourites are: “Life’s Amazing Secrets” by Gaur Gopal Das, I loved it. Then there’s a small book “Simplify your life” by Vaibhav Datar. “The Monk who sold is Ferrari” by Robin Sharma was the first book I read. And currently I’m reading “The Power of your Subconscious Mind” by Joesph Murphy.

AKASH JAGGA, ACTOR

Interview by - Kriti Garg