I REJECTED SAQIB’S ROLE: ANSHUMAN
Running the race at his own pace, actor Anshuman Jha says he has refused films with big names because the scripts didn’t excite him
Actor Anshuman Jha might not have got his big-ticket film yet, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have such offers. The actor says that he has rejected a couple of commerciallyviable films.
“I was offered Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain [the film released this year] and the lead role [later played by Saqib Saleem] in Dil Juunglee at the same time. Angrezi… was a film set in Benares, Dil Juunglee was set in London, and everybody thought I should do the latter, which had a bigger name. But the script of Angrezi… said so much to me. Both the films were shot in 2016, from July to December. Everyone said I was being stupid,” he says.
Anshuman made an impact with his very first film Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (2010), but wasn’t able to follow up the success with films such as Fugly (2014) and X: Past is Present (2015). He says, “It’s a struggle to break stereotypes. LSD was a hit film directed by Dibakar Banerjee, but I was representing India at the World Theatre Festival that year. After the film’s release, I left for that. Everybody told me ‘You are stupid. Your film just released. Who leaves the country now?’ I’ve never been the one who can capitalise on things.” The actor says that the reason he has been ‘misunderstood’ a lot of times is because he has been working on his own. “I’ve never tried to step on anyone’s toes. Also, it isn’t as if I don’t want to do big commercial films. I’m trained in different kinds of dance, and have a black-belt in judo. I haven’t got the right scripts yet,” he adds.
Everybody told me ‘You are stupid. Your film just released. Who leaves the country now?’ I’ve never been the one who can capitalise on things.
ANSHUMAN JHA ACTOR