Every time, the good side of Bollywood is portrayed during the interviews, promotions and media interactions. But we all know that Bollywood has a dark side too, which covers struggles, failures and untold stories.
One such struggle story was shared by Bollywood Actor Sharat Saxena. He is 71-year-old and has done more than 300 Bollywood films. Recently, he was seen in the film Sherni, which also featured Bollywood actress Vidya Balan, in film he played the role of Pinto Bhaiya.
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Recently, he was interviewed by a news organization where he opened up about the ageism in the Bollywood industry and how much struggle he has done during his career.
When he was asked about his reaction to the offer (in Sherni) he said, “I rarely get the opportunity for such nice roles. So when the role was offered to me I wanted to do.”
When he was asked about the choosing criteria in Bollywood he replied, “That is a very strange situation that I face, I have always had this problem. Indian mentality is that people like me who are muscular or athletic are not considered intellectual, actors or even poets. Indian culture does not promote athletic people as intelligent people. They are normally treated brainless, so that is the reason whenever there are good roles, the director always considers a person who resembles him. When it comes to hiring me for an important or meaty role, directors don't consider me as they believe I am not someone who can fit in it and I am facing this for the last 50 years. And this trend is not going away, this is going to continue.
I have given up on the producers, directors and even the film industry. India has the most color-conscious people in the world we all know that. Black or dark people are not considered equal. You become very subservient to the white people. Dark people are considered inferior and I have got all those problems, I am dark, I have curly hair, I am muscular and I am tough-looking, so all my good chances go away like that.”
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Next, he was asked if being dark or muscular was the reason that he was never bought to the lead roles. He answered, “To become a hero you have to look like a Greek god. If you don’t look like a Greek god but a Hindu god you don’t get the role of a hero. But now things have changed and thanks to the OTT platform, now you don’t have to look like a god to become a hero. You can look like an ordinary person, you can be an ordinary person and you can still get the main character on OTT, so I am very hopeful about the future now.”
Sharing his struggle of being an old man in the industry, Sharat said, “Another problem here is there are no roles written for old people. You see any film there are no important roles written for an old man. Old people are not required, they are just not into the script of the Hindi film and therefore it is very important to workout like a young man, to have physically fit like a young man. I have colored my hair black, I have a black mustache, black beard, so this is what I have to do to survive in the film industry because there is no other thing I would rather do. This is the only job I like, I can do and it is the only job I will ever do. This is my life, this is my dedication and I am going to die doing this.”
At last, Sharat was asked about his desirable roles, he said with a laugh, “My only desire is that I want to do important roles. Like Pinto Bhaiya in Sherni, everyone wants to kill him after watching the film and that’s a great thing.”