Bollywood Life: My journey from America to Bollywood: Akshay Oberoi

I made the decision to pursue acting when I was twelve years old. I have a crystal clear memory of the day I told my parents. Since rehearsal is an essential element of the acting arts, I practiced how I would tell them this unbelievable news for two hours that morning in the restroom. Mom and Dad, I've decided I'm going to move to India and perform in movies! I told them as I stepped into their bedroom in our Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, home. Are you sure that's what you want to do? my father asked after what seemed like an eternity. I responded, "Sure, I'm sure." Then, okay, sounds wonderful, but you'll need to learn the acting trade, my father said. While becoming an actor is within your control, fame and stardom are not.

I was ecstatic that he supported my dream at the time. I figured I could sort out the rest afterwards. Since acting couldn't even be taught at that age, I'll be honest and say I had no notion. Soon after, I attended an audition for a Hindi/English bilingual movie being filmed in New Jersey. The only thing I knew about the movie was that the legendary Paresh Rawal would play my father. I got in touch with the casting director right away, had my mother drive me to the audition, and was offered the role of the younger brother of the main character in the movie American Chai. I was doing it completely blindly. I had no notion what anyone was doing, in fact. People were racing around the set and shouting things that I couldn't quite make out. Just as I was beginning to get the swing of things on the fifth day of the shoot, Paresh Ji was seated next to me reading a newspaper. Tu actor banna chahta hai na? he murmured as he set the paper down. Uski padhai kar and barabar se bhasha seekh le toh phir.

I hadn't thought about the disadvantage of growing up in America and having aspirations of acting in Hindi films until this moment. We were fortunate to spend all of our summers in Mumbai and my parents solely spoke Hindi at home. But this was insufficient. When I was 17 years old in 2002, I traveled to Mumbai on my own to study at Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Lab. That summer, I met Imran Khan, an actor, and Wasim Khan, a producer, who I now think of as my family.

I then returned to The Johns Hopkins University to begin my college career. I chose to major in Economics and Theater Arts, making me one of the only Indian students who wasn't pursuing medicine. The following four years were spent studying acting with John Astin (from Adams Family). I first began keeping up with Bollywood news and trade reports while I was a student at Johns Hopkins. I would really spend hours poring over the films that were being created and how much money they were bringing in on this same website (bollywoodhungama.com). Being a writer for Bollywood Hungama is very unique. Life seems to have completed a circle (I am serious, my college roommates will get a kick out of this).

When I graduated, John advised me that I still needed to do some more studying before I could start auditioning. I relocated to New York City, where I studied acting at the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory while living on a college roommate's sofa. I later relocated to Los Angeles to work at the Playhouse West (run by Jeff Goldblum and Robert Carnegie). Finally, in 2008, I moved to Maximum City as a gullible 23-year-old, packing my luggage. I had no contacts and no knowledge of the Hindi film industry's workings. At the moment, all I had was a passion that wasn't going away any time soon and a work ethic that would see me through the next ten years.

I made the decision to pursue acting when I was twelve years old. I have a crystal clear memory of the day I told my parents. Since rehearsal is an essential element of the acting arts, I practiced how I would tell them this unbelievable news for two hours that morning in the restroom. Mom and Dad, I've decided I'm going to move to India and perform in movies! I told them as I stepped into their bedroom in our Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, home. Are you sure that's what you want to do? my father asked after what seemed like an eternity. I responded, "Sure, I'm sure." Then, okay, sounds wonderful, but you'll need to learn the acting trade, my father said. While becoming an actor is within your control, fame and stardom are not.

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I was ecstatic that he supported my dream at the time. I figured I could sort out the rest afterwards. Since acting couldn't even be taught at that age, I'll be honest and say I had no notion. Soon after, I attended an audition for a Hindi/English bilingual movie being filmed in New Jersey. The only thing I knew about the movie was that the legendary Paresh Rawal would play my father. I got in touch with the casting director right away, had my mother drive me to the audition, and was offered the role of the younger brother of the main character in the movie American Chai. I was doing it completely blindly. I had no notion what anyone was doing, in fact. People were racing around the set and shouting things that I couldn't quite make out. Just as I was beginning to get the swing of things on the fifth day of the shoot, Paresh Ji was seated next to me reading a newspaper. Tu actor banna chahta hai na? he murmured as he set the paper down. Uski padhai kar and barabar se bhasha seekh le, toh phir.

 

I hadn't thought about the disadvantage of growing up in America and having aspirations of acting in Hindi films until this moment. We were fortunate to spend all of our summers in Mumbai and my parents solely spoke Hindi at home. But this was insufficient. I traveled to Mumbai by myself to attend the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Lab when I was 17 years old in 2002. That summer, I met Imran Khan, an actor, and Wasim Khan, a producer, who I now think of as my family.

I then returned to The Johns Hopkins University to begin my college career. I chose to major in Economics and Theater Arts, making me one of the only Indian students who wasn't pursuing medicine. The following four years were spent studying acting with John Astin (from Adams Family). I first began keeping up with Bollywood news and trade reports while I was a student at Johns Hopkins. I would really spend hours poring over the films that were being created and how much money they were bringing in on this same website (bollywoodhungama.com). Being a writer for BollywoodHungama is very unique. Life seems to have completed a circle (I am serious, my college roommates will get a kick out of this).

 

When I graduated, John advised me that I still needed to do some more studying before I could start auditioning. I relocated to New York City, where I studied acting at the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory while living on a college roommate's sofa. I later relocated to Los Angeles to work at the Playhouse West (run by Jeff Goldblum and Robert Carnegie). Finally, in 2008, I moved to Maximum City as a gullible 23-year-old, packing my luggage. I had no contacts and no knowledge of the Hindi film industry's workings. At the moment, all I had was a passion that wasn't going anywhere and a work ethic that would see me through the following ten years.

When I first started, I distinctly recall wanting no one to know that I was an American. I believed it would hinder me and cause casting directors and producers to pass on me because they believed I was too westernized for the film industry. I met Prakash Bhardwaj, who is most known for being Aamir Khan's diction instructor, during this time. I worked on my language skills with Mr. Bhardwaj for the following few years, spending 4 hours per day with him. At this point, I realized that language made up 50% of an actor's whole skill set, so I worked incredibly hard and curiously to turn this weakness of mine into a strength. I visited various regions of India to hear various accents in order to add them to my repertoire.

My innocent self immediately understood that arriving in Mumbai, expecting to be cast, and not knowing anyone was not a simple task. Remember that this is 2008; there was no such thing as a casting director as we know them now. So, in the hopes that someone would let me act in a Hindi play, I ended up at the Prithvi Theater in Juhu. Makrand Deshpande was that certain someone. He permitted me to become a prop and lighting assistant for his Ansh Theater Group and eventually to participate in some acting.

Around this time, I learned that Vidhi Kasliwal (Sooraj Barjatya's niece) film, Isi Life Mein, was in need of a new actor to play the lead role. I arrived at their Prabhadevi headquarters with a portfolio. It was all quite familiar by this point because I had previously spent a year knocking on producers' doors with this portfolio. I was cast in the role after several auditions, and this marked the start of my acting career in Hindi films.

 

Naturally, the conflict continued after that. The movie struggled at the box office. However, the younger me had a positive outlook on things. I persisted, and a few years later, Bejoy Nambiar helped me get a job at Pizza. Then came Kalakaandi, Fitoor, Piku, Laal Rang, Bombairiya, and so on. I continued to work and navigate the Bollywood underworld year after year. I'm letting go of the prep-school me from New Jersey gradually but surely.

In fact, I didn't start telling people I was from the USA until I played a small-town boy from Karnal in Syed Ahmed Afzal's Laal Rang and Shanker Raman's Gurgaon, when I played a psychopath named Haryanvi Jaat. I believed that I could no longer be referred to as a "Bandra lad" or an "urban face," two labels I vehemently disliked since I was aware of the restrictions they would impose on me as an actor. To play Desi heartland characters convincingly is one of my best professional accomplishments to date. It demonstrated to me that the only person standing in the way of your success is you.

One of the major lessons I have learnt in my Bollywood journey is to love where you come from and now that I am officially writing about it, there is no other place I’d like to share this journey other than the site that reminds me why I became an actor in the first place: Bollywood Hungama. I appreciate you letting me tell you my tale. I hope this reaches anyone out there who wants to be an actor but feels like the deck is stacked against them. It should inspire you to work hard to accomplish the seemingly impossible.