‘Salman bhai was certain he wouldn’t give me a film till he felt I’m ready to face the camera’
All set to make his Bollywood debut with Loveratri, Aayush Sharma couldn’t have asked for a better producer — none other than one of the chieftains of Bollywood, Salman Khan.
If you think it was easy to bag a film produced by such a big name — Aayush is married to Salman’s sister, Arpita, and he himself has a strong political lineage — perish the thought. Salman is a tough producer and he wanted his male lead to come prepared, never mind the close familial ties.
“Salman bhai was very certain that he wouldn’t give me a film till the time he didn’t feel that I’m ready to face the camera,” says Aayush. “When I decided I wanted to seriously pursue a career in films, he told me, ‘Although you were not born into a film family, you will still [face] the expectations that people have from an actor from a film family.’”
Aayush doesn’t shy away from admitting that he “obviously lacked the experience and didn’t have the exposure that other actors have, belonging to a family from the industry”. Hence, like any other aspiring actor, Aayush, too, worked hard to prepare for his role. “Salman bhai put me on a strict training programme. I’d train for some 13 hours a day. It would include gymnastics, action, acting, diction, dance. I trained like this for four years,” shares the actor, who got a lot of praise after the teaser of his debut film was released recently, to be screened along with Salman’s latest release Race 3.
All that hard work paid off. An excited Aayush says, “So, it was only after four years of rigorous training that finally Abhiraj (Minawala, director) approached me for Loveratri. He felt I’d be able to do justice to the character. Salman bhai heard the film’s story and decided that it’s the perfect film for my debut. I was at last lucky enough for an opportunity to face the camera.”
On Salman’s advice, Aayush also assisted on films before venturing into acting. “I was very lucky to be a part of films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Sultan, and Tubelight,” he says. “It really helped me to get used to the set environment and understand filming. I enjoyed this a lot.”