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The actor talks about success and failure, and the pitfalls of making it as an actor in Bollywood.

Actor Sidhant Gupta’s journey to 'Jubilee' hasn’t been an overnight one

The star of the recent hit period drama, Jubilee, talks about success and failure, and the pitfalls of making it as an actor in Bollywood

It’s not very often that you see electrifying charm in an actor’s early projects, but when you do, it is clear that you have a star in the making. Sidhant Gupta, who has recently taken over the Internet by storm with his enthralling performance in Vikramaditya Motwane’s period drama show; Jubilee,which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video,is that dazzling light. 

From a career in television to commercials and modelling jobs, the actor has done it all. Gupta also featured in films like Tutiya Dil (2012)and Badmashiyaan (2015)which didn’t go on to do well, while appearing briefly in Bhoomi (2017),starring Sanjay Dutt and Aditi Rao Hydari. 

However, Jubilee, is Gupta’s claim to fame with a role that has cemented his place as an actor of incredible calibre, and a promising star who awaits to steal the breath of the nation away with his beguilingly good looks, dreamy voice and energy that is so effervescent that when he breaks into a victory dance as things fall in place for his character, you can’t help but swoon a little bit. 

As he basks in the love that he has been receiving and gears up for the next innings of his career, Gupta, in a candid interview with The Established, talks about Jubilee, and the art of discovering one’s self while trying to make it big.

Sidhant Gupta as Jay Khanna in Jubilee. Image: Amazon Prime Video

Sidhant Gupta as Jay Khanna in Jubilee. Image: Amazon Prime Video

Jubilee is a special project for you, and the love you’ve been receiving for your performance in it, is unbridled. How are you taking it all in? 

I am just trying to keep my calm and absorb as much love as I can, because it’s very rare that a person gets to feel so much admiration from everyone and it’s honestly such a beautiful feeling, so much so that I am completely overwhelmed. Also, I realise that all these compliments that I get day in and day out are not just words, but much more than that. You come across people on the road, and something in them just doesn’t want to stop from giving you that love and appreciation, which is heartwarming. Just knowing that there is so much love to go around, is more than enough for me. 

Has hate tagged along with love? 

Honestly speaking, no–there hasn’t been hate. In fact, the love that is coming my way is so powerful, I feel accepted. There was a time before Jubilee, and I’d done stuff like modelling, television, commercials, and you just feel if you’re ever going to be where you want to be. There’s also the insecurity of whether or not you’ll be liked and welcomed after all that slogging because people talk about perception, image and the intangible aura, which makes you think, ‘what if they (the audience) don’t accept me?’ 

Suddenly then, one thing comes along and when you put your heart into something, it connects with every heart out there, and that is what has happened with Jubilee. I feel accepted, and that has taken away the fear that I carried within myself of not being accepted, but the love is limitless, and the hate is really, just not there.

Jubilee is Gupta’s claim to fame with a role that has cemented his place as an actor of incredible calibre. Image: Amazon Prime Video

Jubilee is Gupta’s claim to fame with a role that has cemented his place as an actor of incredible calibre. Image: Amazon Prime Video

One trait that connected Gupta with Jay was the idea of not knowing how to give up. Image: Amazon Prime Video

One trait that connected Gupta with Jay was the idea of not knowing how to give up. Image: Amazon Prime Video

When Scam 1992 released, Pratik Gandhi became a sensation, and everyone was talking about his overnight success, after which he said in an interview that ‘this night has lasted 12 long years.’ You’ve also tasted that unanticipated fame and glory with Jubilee, but it has certainly not been overnight. What do you have to say to people who think of this victory as quick as a wink, not taking into consideration your journey which started from nowhere? 

I am not offended by it, but yes it has certainly not been overnight. However, it has been a more of a personal journey—it’s been a lot about finding the answers to some very important questions, like why am I doing this, and it’s also about building courage because you’re an actor, you’re going to be in the public eye, and you need the courage to be out there and show emotions, while being in touch with reality at the same time. Of course, everyone starts from nowhere, or somewhere, but it’s more about growth rather than achieving milestones. 

Moreover, the journey has mostly been about being ready and prepared for your moment—mine is right now, and had it come earlier, I wouldn’t have been ready, I wish I was though, but the truth is what it is, and that is because I wasn’t asking myself difficult questions. I was just going around in circles like everyone in the city, going from one audition to another. I was doing work that didn’t even appeal to me, and I was clueless as to why I am doing it, but I was just doing it because you’re getting an opportunity, and you need an opportunity to just keep moving somehow, because being stuck is scary. 

Overall, I don't regret anything, but I do wish I’d spent some time with myself while growing up, to find a voice that is strong enough to just be who I am, because what has changed now is that I have more to say and less to hide, previously I was just hiding. Also, the upbringing with a strict father creates a space for doubt and insecurity, and you need time to get over it. 

Jay Khanna, your character, is a chaser, do you resonate with him on some accounts? 

One trait that connected me with Jay was the idea of not knowing how to give up. It’s not that you don’t want to give up, it’s just that you don’t have the ability to give up, which is one of the reasons why I understood the core of Jay, because he was at it, and it wasn’t physically possible for him to let go of that ambition, and dream, which I relate with to an extent.

“THERE’S NO END TO FINDING THE SOUL OF THE CHARACTER, BUT THE THING IS HOW FAR ARE YOU WILLING TO GO, HOW MUCH CAN YOU TRUST AND HOW MUCH CAN YOU SURRENDER.”

-Sidhant Gupta

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"Moreover, the journey has mostly been about being ready and prepared for your moment—mine is right now." Image: Amazon Prime Video

What was the process of becoming Jay Khanna? 

When the script is so beautiful and honest, you surrender, because you know that you won’t get lost and so you’re prepared to go to any depths to find the heart of this character, and that is what you keep touching until the last day of the shoot. There’s no end to finding the soul of the character, but the thing is how far are you willing to go, how much can you trust and how much can you surrender. Thanks to the director and writer, I didn’t have to worry about anything, because they had immense faith in me, so I just flew I suppose. 

Jubilee is set in the bygone era of Bollywood, a time when stars like Dev Anand ruled the silver screen and your character also alludes a lot to his and Raj Kapoor’s filmography. Did you go back in time to explore that cinema? 

I had not explored that era before until the preparation [for Jubilee], but I refrained from watching too many films even then–just two or three I guess, that I referenced for the in-film bit in the show. Body language was very different back then so you had to adopt it, but the idea was to just find the reason why Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, and only a handful of people in the initial years of cinema had this voice out of the millions who came. I was trying to understand the essence, and the thinking of these people, which is more off-screen than on-screen. 

You can safely say now that you’ve tasted the best of both failure and success. If Badmashiyaan went wrong eight years ago, then Jubilee has hit it out of the park today. What does each of them teach you at the end of the day? Is failure a better teacher, or success? 

This is very interesting, because I’ve never thought about it before, you know, But I think failure is something that you dodge, while success you try and collect as much as possible, but to truly taste success, you have to make friends with failure, because that’s just how it is. There’s going to be more failure than success in life, at least initially, so yes, I do make peace with it, and it is also a lot about how you stand up after you fall. In those moments that you stumble, you just move forward, you stand up for yourself and remember that you’re paramount, so not giving up on yourself is not giving up on life. 

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