A passionate start

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Shivam Patil’s Twitter wall clearly explains how people are reacting to his performance in the recently released Nasha.

While earlier it was speculated that famous for bare-it-all Poonam Pandey will walk away with all the attention, Shivam surprised everyone with his honest and earnest performance of 18-year-old Saahil who falls hopelessly in love with a 25-year-old woman. Perhaps, this honesty is the reason why Shivam landed the role which has opened Bollywood’s doors for the young lad, who otherwise dreamt of becoming a writer.
“Bollywood was never on my list of career options. I was a simple 18-year-old with interest in psychology, sports, reading and writing. In fact, I was a geek who would stick to studies and football. Actually, I disliked acting as a profession because I always felt that it’s an unfair place where some people get paid a lot for just appearing in front of the camera while some struggle endlessly. And see the irony, acting has become a career for me now,” says Shivam, who took acting classes from Barry John, who is famous for mentoring Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Bajpai.
Acting happened at the behest of his mother Mrinalini Patil, who is a famous director and producer of Marathi films. “She proved to be a force who drove me towards acting. After college, I was aimless about my career and one day she asked me my plan. I said I would like to study psychology and she replied ‘why don’t you give acting a shot. You’ve got talent. Don’t let it go waste’. That’s when I decided to try my luck in acting and did theatre for a brief while. I went through initial stage of struggle (auditioned 50-60 times for ad films) before bagging an Airtel ad and finally Nasha happened,” says the young actor, who like a good boy took the script to his mother for approval.
“I was hesitant initially because it was unlike any other film. But when my mother gave me the approval to go ahead, I said yes to Nasha. After all, I do not come from an illustrious background to get any role I demand. I took a chance with Nasha and it paid well,” he adds.
However, doing intimate scenes with Poonam was a catch for Shivam. “I was nervous at the start, but then I knew it’s just a performance and I have to play a role. I made sure that I was comfortable and made Poonam feel comfortable. When we both were fine, we went ahead. Moreover, I always knew what this movie is going to be about, right!” says Shivam.
The actor stayed totally immune to Poonam’s persona and the baggage of expectations from her. “Initially, every night I would go to sleep thinking am I taking a risk? This movie is going to be all about Poonam. But then I realised, the less I think about her the better it is. I am here to start as an actor and can’t demand things so early in my career. I have to wait till I can have things my way. Also, there were reports that suggested that I was feeling sidelined because the producers were focusing more on Poonam, who is famous for her individual personality. But I accepted these things long ago and knew that producers are going to bank more on her to pull the crowd to theatres. And if they do, audience will get to see my performance too,” says Shivam, who is now going to wait for the right time and right scripts to come his way.
“I am all relaxed and looking forward to get my next project, though I know it may take a while to come. I just don’t want to take up anything that comes my way. Since now I want to make it to Hollywood, I am waiting to prove myself in Bollywood first,” ends Shivam.