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Harshvardhan Rane and Avinash Tiwary on Survival, Struggle and Stardom
The actors reflect on their years of hustle, rejection, and the rules they live by in the industry.
Becoming a movie star is no easy feat, and In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, actors Harshvardhan Rane and Avinash Tiwary looked back at their early days of struggle.
“I started acting back in 2003, when I started doing theatre,” Tiwary started, explaining that he decided to approach acting through education. “After [completing] my degree, I thought I would get work. Back in 2007, I thought there would be a red carpet for me, but no one turned up.”
Producers would throw his headshots and portfolios in the trash can, which prompted him to make a showreel to display his work. “I used to take DVDs everywhere [to studios] but I realised that this too, would go in the trash. So I started taking my laptop along…”
He believed his journey was akin to climbing a mountain, and revealed that it took him 15 years to land one film. “And then, I was absolutely at a loss because I didn't know what I wanted to do after that. Abhi aage jaake traffic milnee hi hai (There’s still traffic ahead),” he knew.
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“I divided myself into three things: an artist, a person and a profession,” he explained. If the artist in him was happy to play a role and it worked for him professionally, he’d still do it even if it didn't align with his personal ideologies. Similarly, if there was a project that would bring him a lot of money, he would take it up even if he didn’t enjoy it much. Because at the end of the day, Tiwary always believed he could survive.
On the other hand, Rane’s path was more uphill. “The first struggle was to find a soap for myself,” he said. His journey began as a waiter in a hostel mess, while he also maintained a register in an STD booth for ₹ 10 a day, before taking up a job at a cyber cafe for ₹ 20. He added, “First thing was to find a meal, second, a steady income of ₹ 10, and the third thing was to find a washroom.”
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“When I first earned money, I went to McDonalds to have a strawberry milkshake and bought a Jovan musk perfume. Then I got a room,” Tiwari recalled, looking back at the time he had to sleep in the same room as five other men, the body odour being the biggest problem.
“So this isn’t a struggle for me now. As long as I get food, a clean bed and warm water to bathe with, it’s not a struggle,” he said. He looked at his trajectory from the perspective of Maslow’s pyramid. Only after physiological needs are met, does one approach safety in terms of one’s career. Then comes love and belongingness, a stage he admitted he was at currently with his audience, and then comes self-esteem and self-actualisation.
Despite his more “elite” friends asking him not to go and stand outside a producer’s office once he had about 20 films under his belt, that’s what finally worked for him.
"So there’s no rule; you’ll come in and create your own,” said Rane. He added that just like Tiwary’s trio of factors for signing a project, he had three of his own: “Character, career and bank.” But all that ultimately matters is staying in the ring.