Sidhant Gupta recently triumphed playing Charles Sobhraj in the Netflix series Black Warrant. The actor speaks to Subhash K Jha about the beginning of his career, playing Charles Sobhraj, and opens up about his struggle to find his place in the film industry.
Tell me about your beginnings as an actor.
My beginnings as an actor… I don’t know how to sort of put it across in four lines, but it’s been a memory that has stayed with me, and it’s personal, and I hold on to it because it’s that moment when I truly felt the magic of this work. I remember nothing was working. I’d done Bhoomi and a cameo in that film, and it just didn’t work. It was a Sanjay Dutt comeback film, and then I was jumping guns from television to films, and suddenly, this film didn’t work, and I had no opportunity.
What did you do next?
That’s when I thought everything that I’d earned from television, I just utilized that money, and I just fled to London to spend some time alone. And that was actually my first alone trip and that’s when I met one of the teachers from the Drama Center in London, her name is Liana Norton. It’s like when you’re really looking for something, I think the world opens the doors to you. That sort of situation happened to me, and I was just looking for an answer: why do I want to do this all my life? Why acting?
What answers did you get?
I just had to know, and that’s when I met Liana Norton. We just connected, and she invited me to the Drama Center; it’s a place where I think thousands audition, and about fifteen are selected, and they do in a year, and they do a three-year course. They don’t even allow you to audition. So, I saw the entire atmosphere, the drill that they go through and that’s when someone like a Tom Hardy or a Benedict Cumberbatch, these gentlemen have come out from schools like Drama Center. I saw the drill and was like, okay, this is serious business, and this is the way it is. So, that was their approach.
How did you fit into that kind of atmosphere?
In that first meeting, I was just working on a Shakespeare piece, and I remember it was a huge hall, and there was no one there; it was just me and Liana, and she just made me move around, and I just followed her directions, and I kept hearing her, I didn’t know anything about the backstory of the piece, nothing, all I knew was the text, and that’s all. I kept moving, and I kept moving, and I kept following her voice, and after a few minutes in that first session, I felt that magic of illusion where, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t myself even…. I just couldn’t remember anything about myself or my life. It was just a few seconds, but they were the most liberating magical seconds, and they were real; they felt real, more real than reality has ever felt, and so, we just paused, and that’s the moment I’ve held on to. I understood, okay, this is real, it’s possible, you can really move away from the reality that you’ve known to another reality which is unknown and be the unknown or the known, fascinating. So, that is what I held on to and that was actually the beginning of holding on to something which was real.
Your Charles Sobhraj in the series Black Warrant in has captured the nation’s imagination did you expect this volume of ovation?
I think I am fortunate that I’m offered characters that are already known to the volumes. The work is to touch the reality of the character. It’s a magical feeling, and I believe that it evokes fascination in audiences. This kind of ovation fuels my heart.
As an outsider in the film industry, do you feel disadvantaged as compared with the so-called insiders?
I did. And it made me feel slightly better about being jobless. But then, everyone who comes to this city of dreams is aware of this fact. And one fine day, I stopped blaming and owned up to the fact that I have chosen this for my life. What pains me is that even in today’s times, the producers feel safe to invest in namesake more than the talent because they have people’s interest. In that, the greatest script would shape into a mediocre film. And they are okay with that! Let’s open our eyes to the artistry of the world a little more than just chasing it. Great accomplished artists like Christian Bale and Heath Ledger would screen test for The Dark Knight. I believe they understand that the process of creation is bigger than who they are. And what is being created will remain forever. That’s value. That is why we remember The Dark Knight. And not just that, it made a billion dollars.
Have you faced ugly situations in your days of struggle? What advice do you have for outsiders like you trying to break into the Bollywood bastion?
It’s all in the past. The world can be ugly and insensitive. But then, as actors, we have the power to turn the buried skeletons into treasures. We get to live our scars over and over again and eventually heal them. Please don’t waste time waiting for the right call. I have wasted many days, which turned into years. I wish I could utilise the lost time productively and creatively to keep evolving my thinking sooner rather than later.
Who are your favourite actors and who are the directors on your wishlist?
I have always had favourite performances. There’s a big list of directors I admire; Zoya Akhtar is someone I’m craving to work with.
Are you working on something new?
It’s rightfully up to the producers or the platforms to announce before an artist can disclose. But there’s thrilling stuff that’s finding me.
