MUMBAI: Bajrangi Bhaijaan fame actor Harssh A Sharma in this exclusive interview with Tellychakkar.com, talks about his exciting journey in Bollywood. He also talked about his favorite directors and the roles which challenge him. 

Tell us about your journey in Bollywood. 

I never wanted to be an actor; I came to Mumbai to become a singer. I always thought my voice is different from Sonu Nigam or Udit Narayan. So I wanted to do Rock-In-Pop in Bollywood. In 2002, I went for an audition of Radio Mirchi in which I got selected. Then for 8 years, I did radio. In 2010, I wanted to try theatre, and that’s how I started giving auditions for theatres. I was even appreciated for my work by Boman Irani who came to see first of my play. Then finally in 2014, I gave auditions for a film and in my first audition itself, I was selected for Raman Raghav 2.0 by Anurag Kashyap. Getting the first film was a confident booster for me, and that’s how the journey started.  

Also read: Harssh A. Singh joins cast of 'Kyun Utthe Dil Chhod Aaye'

As an actor, what kinds of roles were challenging for you to act? 

I mostly get the roles of a lawyer or an inspector.  But Ken Ghosh gave me a character of a Meethaiwala who is from Gujarat. So, as an actor, I like doing those roles which are realistic and convincing. I always feel the challenge about how convincingly can I portrait those characters on screen. It becomes very difficult for me to change myself completely to be a different character. But I love taking challenges where I have to completely transform myself. 

Do you have any plans for direction? 

I love to direct. I have made a short film by the name Good Girl which featured Terence Lewis. I have also done a short with Samara, Deepak Tijori’s daughter. I am always interested to know what happens behind the camera. So when I did the short film, I only wrote the script, directed it, edited it, and also gave music for it. So, yes if I get a chance in the future, I would love to direct a film. 

What was your first pay like? 

I can share three incidents where I was overwhelmed when I got the first payment. When I came from Ludhiana, I didn’t have any job. So I worked as a salesman in one shop, where I was paid Rs 800/- I will never forget that money because it was my first salary after coming to Mumbai. Then in Radio Mirchi where I was doing an internship, I was paid 7000/- Rs and after a few days they called me in their office and offered me a job as a morning Radio Jockey and they gave me Rs 60,000/- as the salary. And recently I gave an audition for a film and after the meeting with the director ended they gave me a cheque in my name. These are the few paycheque moments I will always remember. 

Directors with whom you would like to work with? 

There is a big list of directors I want to work with. Imtiaz Ali is one of my favorite directors. Shakun Baitra, I would love to work if given a chance. And I also love Zoya Akhtar’s work. 

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Also read: Harssh A Singh: Acting is a social activity