MUMBAI: Himanshu Malik began his career in music videos; the most notable among them was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Afreen with Lisa Ray. He later appeared in Sonu Nigam's Deewana with Sandali Sinha. Meanwhile, he made his film debut with a role in Mira Nair's Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996) and also appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's Jungle in 2000. However, his big break came as a supporting actor in Tum Bin (2001), leading to work in several small films.
Now, he has revealed how he first realised the ways that the film industry functions. In a new interview, he has revealed he was offered to have an affair with someone as famous as him in order to stay in news.
Himanshu, who played one of the three male lead characters in Anubhav Sinha's romantic film, Tum Bin, has now turned director for Chitrakut slated for release soon.
"I got a glimpse of how the industry is soon after Tum Bin and it disturbed me a lot. That was a time when magazines used to be huge. So I got a call from one huge magazine publication, asking me to have an affair. 'If you have an affair with an upcoming actress, it makes for a good story', I was told," Himanshu said.
He added, "I was shocked to realise such a thing happens. I was told 'Yes, no one becomes a star without the publicity. We will talk to one or two candidates, they will be as famous as you are. We will even get you a room in Goa. You just go there and we will expose."
Himanshu shot his first feature film, Chitrakut in 2018-19 and it released in theatres on May 20. Written and directed by Himanshu, Chitrakoot is presented by Akbar Arabiyan Mojdeh and Mojtaba Movies. It features Auritra Ghosh, Vibhore Mayank, Naina Trivedi, Kiran Srinivas, and Shruti Bapna.
Speaking about his decision to turn director, Himanshu said, "The general kind of films that were being made did not engage with me. There was the Karan Johar sugar-laced old school films, the Yashraj in modern form but still somewhere trying to be deeply Indian in ethos, then there was the Anurag Kashyap independent wave which was for some reason rooted in heartland India -- they were all wonderful films but none of them spoke of the world I knew."
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Credits: Hindustan Times
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