Saanand Verma: Acting is the most difficult job in the world

As he continues to impress his fans with his performances, Babli Bouncer actor Saanand Verma says that acting, as a profession, is not an easy one. He says that it is very important to completely become your character, and in the process, forget yourself, in order to succeed.

“Acting is the most difficult job in the world to do because honest acting is all about forgetting yourself and getting into a different character. So, it is very important that you forget yourself and become someone else and you have to do it over and over again. It is definitely a very difficult job and scenarios are always different and different kinds of challenges keep coming with changing times,” he says.

He adds, “In today’s scenarios, there are a lot of opportunities as compared to say 20 years back, there was no OTT. There were not so many channels back then. Right now, there are so many TV channels, so many OTT platforms, and a lot of theatres. So there is content creation happening everywhere. A lot of people are making films and web series, television serials and many more things like docu-series. So there are too many opportunities for actors. At the same time, the number of actors have also increased. There are a lot of actors now. So definitely, if the actor is talented , he or she is going to get work because this job demands talent. That is the first priority for any casting director or director or producer that the actor should be talented. So real talent will get work and this is actually very true in today’s scenario as well, not like the earlier days. There are new filmmakers who are highly qualified and ready to explore and ready to take risks and do fresh things, different things so they are always looking for talents. But earlier there were just a set of actors who were there in all the films. You have seen Mr. Prem Chopra, Mr. Shakti Kapoor, Mr. Kadar Khan, Mr Amrish Puri and there are some other actors who will be seen all the time in a lot of movies but now that has changed. I think today’s scenario is the best time to be an actor.”

Ask him what is the most challenging part of acting, and he says, “The biggest challenge for me has always been that I’m supposed to forget myself and I’m supposed to turn into someone else completely like physically, mentally, emotionally. So, in a very genuine way, I’m supposed to change entirely. All my real characteristics are supposed to be forgotten by me and I’m supposed to create new characteristics, character traits. I have to become someone who I never even imagined in my life. So, forgetting your own character, and becoming someone else is the most challenging part for me and I think for all the genuine, honest actors I think this should be the biggest challenge.”

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He adds, “The most challenging part of my journey was that We didn’t have money and I struggled a lot and later I got a great corporate job after a very long financial struggle. But I was still unhappy because I’m an actor and I never wanted to do a corporate job in my life. So, I was just doing it for my kitchen, just to pay my bills and then finally I quit that job. I came back to square one, no money in my account and again I struggled a lot. I remember I used to walk 50 kms a day and it was like a newcomer who had just come to Mumbai and just started to pursue acting. So, it was extremely challenging and painful but by the grace of God everything fell into place and I’m in a happy space now.”

Surviving through a no-work phase can be tough, says the actor, adding, “An actor is supposed to be learning all the time and he can always polish his or her skills. So, when the flow is not there, one should definitely keep on learning and enhancing one’s skill sets and keep a positive mental attitude because an actor can never say that he knows everything and he has finished learning. That is impossible. So, room for learning is endless in this craft. We should keep on learning and you can learn by watching various performances, by watching different filmmakers, attitude towards work and a lot of award-winning performances that we hear about all the time that we could not see the performance. We should definitely use that time watching it and get better at it. That is what I do and this is my passion. I always feel very cheerful, blissful and extremely excited when I watch something good. This is how I spend my time and keep my confidence alive.”