Jawed Khurshid

Actor Prashant Kumar on his painstaking journey to the glittering world of Hindi cinema

When Prashant landed in Mumbai from New York with a dream to become a Bollywood star, he had never thought that he would get a role, albeit a cameo one, in Rajshri’s 2008 film Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi, so soon. Despite being born and raised in the US, the first day of shooting for a Hindi film didn’t give him the jitters. He canned his first shot in one take upon which Sooraj Barjatya personally walked up to him and said ‘great job, completely natural’.. ‘Shooting for a Rajshri film may be a little challenging as pure grace and warmth aren’t easy to exude on screen as per typical Rajshri situations’, believes Prashant. ‘The Barjatyas are amazing people and extremely well organized and generous. I had wonderful interactions with Raj saab, Sooraj ji, director Kaushik Ghatak, Eesha Koppikar, Sonu Sood and the entire cast and crew.

Ironically, this initial break paved the way for a completely different genre and setup with a newer production house. In the months to come, Prashant Kumar will be seen in a feature horror film, Kaalo, which is touted as India’s first live-action horror film.

Even though the journey to Mumbai's film industry has been a roller coaster, his adoption by the Hindi film industry and that too within such a short span startled many.. ‘Progress came after so much toil – two years, two films, two ads and two hundred contacts. I’ve none of this when I landed in Mumbai,’ boasts the ebullient actor.

‘Somehow I remind myself of Shah Rukh Khanfrom Swades – he had everything going in the US but he found opportunity in India ….The same with me. The only difference is that Mumbai doesn’t need me, I need Mumbai,’ he said. ‘I hope that equation changes soon.’ This young debonair dude is endowed with a deep voice and a strong flair for Hindi poetry.

The starry eyed newcomer with a decent upbringing in Queens, New York has maintained his great faith in Indian culture. When told Bollywood borrows ideas from Hollywood, he pontificated, ‘First and foremost it is best we keep Hollywood and Indian cinema independent of each other. We have a history older than any other history of the world and we’ve a glut of languages and dialects. We have various cultures. We are the richest and at the same time poorest people of the world. We have Mumbai, within which we have Nariman Point and Dharavi. We do not have to go elsewhere for stories and ideas. Why should we keep buying rights? Why do we keep drawing so much when we have so much? We are a country that loves romance, comedy, melodrama, suspense, erotica and family values. We are the masters of every genre, except for certain special effects and fantasy. Today we’ve reached a stage where we’re funding and partnering with Hollywood.’

"Surely, the lure of Hindi films has drawn me 10,000 miles. But why just me, I think in due time it’ll draw mainstream Hollywood actors too."