EXCLUSIVE: Rohit Saraf’s EMOTIONAL tell-all about his first film being shelved and not having any work for two years

After delivering with Ludo and Mismatched, 2020 turned out to be a milestone year in Rohit Saraf’s life. Now, he starts the year 2021 with a cute short in Netflix’s next anthology Feels Like Ishq. While his two projects last year brought him the necessary love and recognition, his journey in the industry has been far from being a smooth ride. Giving up on education, starting really early at 15, doing a TV show that added nothing to his career and being signed for a debut movie titled Banana, that was prematurely shelved, Rohit battled several highs and lows almost simultaneously from the beginning of his career. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Bubble, the Ludo actor shared about the turbulent time he went through after his first film was shelved.

Sharing how he started out in the industry and bagged his first film Banana, Rohit recalled, “I started when I was 15. I used to live in Delhi before and gave random auditions out of nowhere because the thought that I want to try it because everyone knows it was always my dad who wanted me to. So I gave auditions and thankfully out of the first seven auditions that I gave, three of them worked out. One of which was the youth show that I did for channel V that I did. That was a long ago, that was the first ever job that I did. And that made me move to Bombay. So I started off with that. And of course I didn’t enjoy the experience so much because that was a huge difference in my life. Like I came from school and suddenly being on sets for 18-19 hours a day was too much. I didn’t enjoy it and so I took a back seat and really though if I want to do this or not. But thankfully at that time, there was a film called Banana which was being made by John Abraham and Sheel Kumar. They were producing it and Sajid Ali was directing it. I think they saw me in one of the TV commercials that I had done back then for KFC or Disney. They called me for an audition so I went and gave the audition.”

Revealing how he learnt the basics of acting on the sets of his first film, the actor said, “There were multiple rounds of audition spread over 4 days where they made me do 2-3 scenes a day with all different emotions and what not. Then I bagged that film and that was like the highlight of my life because in my first year at Bombay I had done a television show and had done many commercials and I had also bagged a film as a protagonist. So that meant everything. I felt like this is what I am meant for and I am so glad to be here. I shot that film, and I truly believed that was the film I learnt so much. Those three months of me being with the crew, director and the writer of the film, whatever time I spent with them is what really opened me up. Before that I wasn’t cast in the television show because I knew who to act, I was cast because I looked the part. I didn’t know how to act at all. I remember I my first scene was some 32 takes. In the scene all I had to do was walk in and look up and I gave 32 takes for that so I didn’t know how to do that at all. Whatever I learnt about acting was on that set. That film brought me to a point where I knew the basics and then now I had to go out and explore. So it happened on that film. So I was waiting for it to release. “

You can watch the entire conversation below:

Revealing how he had to start all over again when his first film was shelved, Rohit said, “Two years went by and it didn’t release and in those two years everyone told me you shouldn’t take up more work right now because you will over expose yourself. Market will be different for you when the films comes out. So I believed them and they were right. So I didn’t talk up any work for two years at that time.  What happened was the initial month that I spent in Bombay I spent that time to build relationship with casting directors by making sure I go for every single audition and being very respectful. I built that relationship with everyone, so when I didn’t take up any work for two years, I would repeatedly call me for different auditions but I would say ‘No’. So eventually people stopped calling me. And when I realized that the film is shelved, I had to start all over again. I called up those casting directors. A lot of time they took jibe at me by asking, ‘What happened about your film?’ I started again and thankfully I met Nandini Shrikent and Karan Mally. I absolutely love them. They gave me Dear Zindagi. I auditioned for it. After Dear Zindagi, What Will People Say happened. Then Hichki and The Sky Is Pink happened, followed by Mismatched and Ludo. After that there had been months and months of work when I did not had work. I also blame it sometimes to the fact that I started too early. After a point I wasn’t looking like a child and I am also not looking like a hero. There’s very little(option) that your have.”

Rohit’s struggle has made him what he is today. We are extremely proud of him for sharing his journey as that will definitely inspire all the aspiring actors out there.

Also Read: Feels Like Ishq: Netflix’s new anthology brings six unique stories where cupid strikes in unexpected ways