Titu Ambani actor Tushar Pandey: I think now the audience trusts me a lot more
Titu Ambani actor Tushar Pandey: I think now the audience trusts me a lot more
Back in 2006, Tushar Pandey faced the camera during the shoot of the audition scene in the Aamir Khan-starrer Rang De Basanti. Cut to 2022, he is now playing the lead role in Titu Ambani.
Directed by Rohit Raj Goyal, Titu Ambani is a romantic comedy-drama film that sees Pandey playing Titu, who aspires to earn a lot of money and become a big man. To achieve his goals, he finds the shortest way.
Excerpts from his interview:
What made you take up Titu Ambani?
It is a film that's relatable. It is a film that tells the story of normal people, real people, and the situations happening around them. Whatever people see, they would have felt it in their own lives. It's an honest film. It has a social commentary and talks about what's happening in the society. It's not a heavy film, but an important one. It takes you on a journey and hopes that people will have a discussion about it at home. And eventually, there will be some kind of a change in how we think about a girl and a guy.
The film is an aspirational story of a man who comes from middle-class and aspires to earn a lot of money. The story is about the man and the society he lives in and what success, happiness, relationships and responsibilities actually mean.
Does Titu Ambani hold a special place in your heart as you play the lead role?
Every movie is special because of the kind of subject they talk about. It (Titu Ambani) is especially important because I play the title role. It doesn't happen very often that actors get to play the title role. The journey of the film is about your own character. The story is told only through you. That way it is a special film. There are wonderful performances by other actors too. I think actors always want to act in films and projects revolving around their characters with them as the protagonists. When you are playing the solo lead, there is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. At the same time, that is what you enjoy. You want to take that level of 'good stress' and pressure, and that kind of means you have evolved and gone to the next level. I am really enjoying this phase.
You are an alumnus of National School of Drama and London International School of Performing Arts, so you are not new in the acting world, but it was in 2019 that you grabbed eyeballs after playing Mummy. How has Chhichhore changed your life?
Chhichhore and that character put the spotlight on me. The film was a success. There was a lot of appreciation and critical acclaim. Following the film's success, a lot of projects were offered to me, but most of them were similar to my role in Chhichhore. Once your character becomes successful, everyone tries to use that kind of role in films and so, the kind of roles that were offered to me were very similar. But I was very conscious of not getting stereotyped because once you do a similar role, it becomes a job. Then you don't enjoy it that much while doing it. I was very conscious of trying and doing interesting roles.
Then you bagged the role of Satti in Aashram that revolves around a conman turned godman Baba Nirala (Bobby Deol). Were you satisfied about playing a completely different role?
It was very different in genre and very high dramatic. After that a lot of doors were opened. People really enjoyed that show and the character. I think that gave people confidence in my work because I had portrayed a different role. That's the way I’d want to go, to try out different things. A lot of people didn't realise that it was the same actor who played Mummy in Chhichhore. I am glad that people appreciated my character in Aashram so much. I think now the audience trusts me a lot more as an actor. They see me as someone who can pull off different styles and different characters.
Tell us about your initial acting days and the time when you shot for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti.
I was not an actor then. I just went to see the shoot. One of the team members saw me and asked me to say a couple of lines. It ended up being in the film. At the time, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to be an actor. I was doing theatre in college, but acting was not something that I thought of taking up as a profession. It was only after I started training in NSD and London school that I thought that I wanted to be an actor because I understood what it was.
Now, you are reuniting with director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury on Lost after the 2016 film Pink, which also starred Amitabh Bachchan. How did you get the role?
I am very excited about this role. I was shooting for an ad and I was supposed to leave for Titu Ambani shoot a day after. Then at night, Tony da (Chowdhury) called me and said, 'listen, if you are in Mumbai I need to meet you and discuss something with you.' I went to meet him and he offered me this role. I read the script and I think anyone would want to do it. It's very interesting. I can't talk about it right now.
What else are you looking forward to in 2022?
Lost and more projects that will get announced soon. I am also in talks with people about other projects. The idea is to try out something different and interesting that kind of pushes me and also gives the audience a new thing to see.
Natalia Ningthoujam is a Manipur-based journalist. She knows how to smoothly switch from being a fan to a writer whenever needed. She tweets at @nattynick.
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