Sidharth Malhotra, who recently impressed everyone in ‘Yodha’, made his Bollywood debut with Karan Johar’s ‘Student of The Year’ in 2012. However, his journey to showzbiz had several detours and hardships. And do you know his first pay cheque got him around Rs 2500 to Rs Rs 3000?
During a conversation at News18’s Rising Bharat Summit, Sidharth shared how he was encouraged to take up acting by an agency, and revealed, “That journey has its own hardships. It wasn’t this easy. I was 20-21 years old when I went for an audition on the recommendation of an agency. They had seen my face in the paper.”
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Sharing how his photo ended up in the newspaper, the actor mentioned, “I used to do fashion modeling, walks, so my photograph would appear in the paper in designer clothes. I had done an advertisement for a Samsung mobile campaign. They wanted a girl and a boy. My first pay cheque was of Rs 2500 or Rs 3000. Uss waqt humare waqt ki itni hi keemat thi (That was the value for our time back then.)”
Sidharth further recalled how like most actors, who are desperate for work, he ended up applying for the job of an Assistant Director in films.
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“I went straight to production houses, not as an actor but as Assistant Director. I made that shift. Those three months determined my path today,” he said, adding, “I met teams of ADs, who were working on big films. If there are 5 ADs in a film, then the 5th one would be an intern, which means that he doesn’t get paid well or doesn’t get paid at all. I was vouching for that part.”
Eventually, he got the job of an AD in Karan Johar’s ‘My Name is Khan’, and during the film’s shoot, he learned several nuances of filmmaking. Finally, when some members of the crew said he looked good on camera, he ened up acting in Karan’s ‘Student of the Year’.
