EXCL! Tum Bin's Himanshu Malik recalls biggest struggles from acting days: 'People only want to deal with your youth, not you as a person...'

Tum Bin actor Himanshu Malik, in an exclusive interview with Zoom TV Digital, opens up about the biggest struggles of his acting days. The actor also explains why his past profession of acting helped him tremendously in directing his debut film, Chitrakut.
Himanshu Malik on his biggest struggles from acting days

Himanshu Malik on his biggest struggles from acting days

It was years ago when Himanshu Malik made his debut on the screen. The actor-turned-director started his journey with music videos, most notable among them being Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Afreen with Lisa Ray. He later starred in several films including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and Jungle, and it was in 2001 when he became a household name after Tum Bin. The actor went on to star in other popular films including Khwahish, LOC Kargil, Rakht, Rog, Rain, Sajni and more.
Throughout it all, the actor shares that his biggest struggle in the film industry was essentially to savour life.
"To grow up, to have normal friendships and relationships and at the same time, be in the limelight. It's a horrible place, you want to be normal but you can't, because you are not normal anymore. You are somebody else. I think this is the only industry where fame is more frightening than failure," he explained in an interview with Zoom TV Digital.
The actor recounts that his struggles were essential to grow old as a person, understand the world, make and maintain emotional connections and at the same time, have a flourishing career. The actor added that while it's been a lot of things, essentially, the people in the industry look at you as just one thing - youth.
"The young person that you are, and that's the only thing people want to deal with - your youth. No one wants to deal with you as a person, your heart... that's it, just act, don't talk, no emotions, no human talk. which is how it is," he added.
Himanshu, who has now turned director with his debut film titled Chitrakut, says that being an actor in the past has helped him tremendously in direction. The actor opined that he has realised now how bad directors direct actors badly. He also shared why he isn't in favour of auditions.
"I told my casting director I will never do auditions. Auditions are a demeaning and destructive process. You can't just ask an actor to come in and say a few lines, it's stupid. It's actually like show me what you got. If you want art, the actor has to tell that story from every inch of his body - from voice to everything else," he said, adding that the actor has to be in the correct space in their life to ace any particular character. Himanshu also said that because of his past as an actor, he was more empathetic to his actors on the set.
"I have a lot of empathy for actors, I get it. They are struggling. They are the ones who will be looked at by the whole world and they are the ones who have to go back to their family and friends and face them when they do a bad piece of work. So unlike everybody else, actors are the only people whose skills are displayed for the whole world," he articulated.
Chitrakut, starring Auritra Ghosh, Vibhore Mayank, Naina Trivedi, Kiran Srinivas, and Shruti Bapna in lead roles, released on May 20.
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