Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan spoke exclusively to BBC Asian Network’s Haroon Rashid for BBC Sounds podcast Beyond Bollywood.
Now one of the few young actors in Bollywood who has found equal popularity amongst adult and child audiences, Kartik Aaryan shares the humble story about his seven year struggle to make it to the top, the power of social media in creating a career for himself and the pressure of maintaining fame and relevance in Bollywood.
‘I used social media in a smarter way’:
The Love Aaj Kal actor explained how he used social media to get his big break in 2011: “I started looking for auditions on Facebook. I used to type ‘auditions’, ‘actors required’, ‘Mumbai’, ‘actor’s call’. Facebook was huge at that time and very few people were using it this way. I actually used it in a smarter way.”
Eventually he found an audition for his first film, Pyaar Ka Punchnama – sending the director, Luv Ranjan, a “cocky message saying, ‘I’m the guy you’re looking for’”- and it worked!
While the comedy went on to gain a cult following amongst young adults in India, it was many more years before Kartik became a household name in the country: “Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety was the film that actually changed everything for me. I started getting movies, the kind of scripts I always wanted to work in, the kind of directors I always wanted to work with – so it’s just started in 2018.”
“I don’t want my position to go”:
That seven-year struggle has made it harder for Kartik to accept that he is now an A list actor: “It is surreal because it’s a full circle for me – it never happened overnight. I didn’t have any connect, I didn’t know anyone in the industry.”
Aaryan says his lack of contacts and inside knowledge impacted his growth and confidence at the beginning: “It was really tough because initially I didn’t trust anyone because (I was) an outsider. It took me five and half years to actually understand the dynamics and understand how PR, or management, or your team helps you grow more and more.”
Despite following up ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ with two hits in 2019 – ‘Luka Chuppi’ and ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh’ – Kartik doesn’t take his fame for granted: “The challenge now is to maintain it. I used to think that the biggest challenge was actually being a part of this world. But, throughout this journey I’ve realised one thing, that it never stops, you cannot stop. You just have to continue. It’s like a machine which is just on.”
Kartik describes himself as “competitive”, admitting that he keeps an eye on what his fellow actors are doing: “Someone else might be working harder (than me), so it’s better to work hard right now. I don’t want my position to go.”
