Amit Sadh says I’m happy being an I actor I don’t want to create any walls

A LONG long struggle to success, 18 years to be precise. This is the time it took Amit Sadh to reach where he has. The new poster boy of OTT platforms has been setting the screens on fire with his performances in web-series like Avrodh.

The Siege Within, Breathe, Breathe into the Shadows, etc. besides his roles in films like Yaara and Shaktintala Devi, Currently, he’s shooting for Zee5’s Zidd opposite Amrita Puri. His hit series Breathe, in which he plays Inspector Kabir Sawant on the hunt for serial killer played by R Madhavan is being dubbed in English fora wider audience. His physical transformation, which came after a tough training of six months, in the second season of Breathe: Into the Shadows, is unmissable.

He’s been making headlines with another powerful performance in SonyLiv’s Avrodh: The Siege Within, which is based on the 2016 Uri surgical attacks. As Major Videep Singh, his portrayal of Major Mike Tango has been loved by the audiences and critics alike.

Reaching here hasn’t been easy It has I have taken a lot of hard work, patience, acceptance of failures, realizing his mistakes, and his faith in himself as well as God to reach where he has. Sadh feels he is a “product of I million miracles.” Refusing to call himself a star, he says, “Stars are very far off. I’m happy being an I actor I don’t want to create any walls I around me.”

Amit Sadh recently completed 10 years in I Bollywood. He has done films like Kai Po Che, Guddu Rangeela, Phoonk2, Race 3, Running Shaadi, Akira, Sultan, and Gold. On the outsider debate in Bollywood, the 41-year-old says, “I do not allow anyone to call me an outsider in this industry. I’m as much an insider in this industry as anyone else.” On whether he faced nepotism, he says, “If this industry was so bad, would I have reached here? The entertainment industry is like any other industry.

Just because of a few such persons, one can’t blame the entire industry. There are many good people here as well. Favoritism is there in every industry. If I start crying nepotism today. then I’ll not be true to the people who gave me the opportunity to work in the first place. My God, too, will get angry with me.”

The acting was not something that this alumnus of La Martiniere, Lucknow, set out to do when he left home after a fight with his family when he was barely 16. With survival in mind, he did sundry jobs such as working as house help, salesperson, a security guard at a showroom, etc. A bet with a friend led him to audition for a role in Mumbai.

He got the role of Aditya Bhargava in Neena Gupta’s teen drama Kyon Hota Hai Pyar. After this initial break as well as roles in TV shows like Durgesh Nandini, Guns and Roses, and Kohinoor, a short temper and outspoken nature soon saw him being out of work. and he was back to square one. Though he did participate in reality shows like Nadi Bat*, Bigg Boss and Fear Factor, but these didn’t translate into work for him.

As he stopped getting roles, realization dawned upon him that he needed to change his attitude and keep the focus on his work. He joined New York’s Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. His Bollywood debut came with Ram Gopal Varma’s Phoonk2 in 2010 but it was Abhishek Kapoor’s, Kai Po Che! (2013) that got him noticed.

The success of the film, however, didn’t get roles for him as it did for his costars Sushant Singh Rajput and Rajkummar Rao. Refusing to be disheartened, he kept working hard and aspiring for success. “I am a gladiator and a fighter. I don’t look back. I’m quite strong and I don’t cry after what happened with me yesterday. Neither am I stressed about tomorrow. I’ll work hard and achieve my aim, even if it takes me any number of years.”

This struggler’s fairy tale, which is also the triumph of the human spirit, brings hope to many trying to cope with the unfairness of life. To those disheartened by failures, he says, the only thing that comes between you and your dream is you. If you want something; go for it. If you have a dream, you have to protect it. Don’t ever let somebody tell you that you can’t achieve it.”