I felt like a dog: Adhyayan Suman on casting directors ordering him around

Despite the whole nepotism debate, there are star kids who have time and again come out in open and shared their ordeal of not being able to make it big in the film industry despite hailing from a film family or having the right connections. Actor Adhyayan Suman is one such name. Like most artistes struggling in the industry are told to mingle with the biggies to get good opportunities, he, too, was advised the same.

“People used to tell me, ‘Arrey jaa na, party kar na industry ke logon ke saath, mix around with them’. But my question is, mere party karne se kaam kaise mil jayega?,” he asks, and continues, “Sirf party karne se kaam nahi milta hai. Also, you can’t just go and party with them (established names in the industry) . If you are a nobody and haven’t done something big yet, they are not going to invite you ki, ‘Aaja party karte hain’. Either you need to be very successful or be a childhood friend of a star kid to chill around them.”

Even though he didn’t have any hopes from this so-called networking, Adhyayan, son of actor Shekhar Suman, still went ahead and tried all of that, only because he had set high goals for himself.

“I’ve had casting directors calling me at 2am and saying, ‘Abhi aaja uthkar’. They woke me up at odd times, asked me ki abhi aaja party karne raat ko, and I’ve gone to such parties. I was desperate for work,” he admits, adding, “But after a few times, I felt like a dog. Usne abhi bola uth jaao, phir bola baith jaao.”

The worst part here, the actor shares, was that he couldn’t even say no. “Because if you deny them, you are hurting their fragile egos,” he recalls, pointing out how there needs to be a time to call someone when you are in a professional set up.

While the situation today seems to be changing with actors being cast in good projects based on their talent, Adhyayan doesn’t agree. In fact, he points out another hoax where a social media personality is assumed to be the perfect fit for a show, irrespective of his acting skills.

“Things depend on how popular you are on Instagram. But what has Instagram popularity going to do with how you are as an actor? You need to have a certain sense of the craft to be an actor, isn’t it? But here, you are being compared to people with 1 million followers. And aapke utne followers nahi hain toh aap ko cast nahi karenge. It has become ridiculous,” he rues.

Though it’s become normal to create dance around and make reels on the trending songs, Adhyayan doesn’t want to give in to such trends. “Now you are expected to go out, dance like a bafoon, make reels and get followers. But for me, it’s cringeworthy. I get very uncomfortable. I am like mujhse ye nahi karwaao. I am an actor. Mujhse acting karwa lo. An actor is nothing without an opportunity. If today, I work with someone like Prakash Jha or Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and when they give you a character and the space to experiment, is when you realise where you stand as an artiste. These reels of instagram popularity won’t tell you how good an actor I can be,” he elaborates, adding that he’s happy “slowly paving” his way in the industry.