Chandan Roy Sanyal completed his two decades in the Hindi film industry. He opened up about his aspirations and struggles during the beginning days of his life as an actor and said that he wasn’t hunting for fame or wealth, but was simply focusing on staying afloat.
During a conversation with a newspaper, Chandan reflected on his journey of 20 years and said, “I didn’t get into acting to become a movie star or a famous name.” The actor, who is known for Kaminey (2009) and Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017), took to his Instagram to post a snapshot of a newspaper article and captioned it, “When your school friends send you articles from newspapers- it’s a great feeling.”
“There was no source of income, whatever you could, you had to. Acting came later. To stay afloat, keep a shelter over my head and food on my plate, the basic requirements. It was very simple,” he told the newspaper.
“My first job in films was playing some bit roles as extras. I played some parts in films here and there, got an assistant director’s role. In some of them, I was required to come, leave the drink on the table and go. That’s how it started,” Chandan recalled his beginning days in the industry.
The 41-year-old actor was also doing theatre on the side during his initial days and did a lot of productions. “But I didn’t get a chance to be on stage. The first two years I doing out and out backstage production work,” he added.
Chandan also recounted how he didn’t have any backup plan if acting didn’t work out. He gave his all to achieve his dream, which he clarified was never to gain fame. While explaining why film was important to him, he said:
“It made me a better person. Eventually, I started doing films. When I started acting, it went from being a serious hobby to my passion. This is what I wanted to do. There were no back up plans, I just wanted to do and act enough to earn my bread and butter.”
