From Boardroom to Bollywood
Last year, I decided to quit my job as VP software and MD, Infinera India. By quitting, I was saying goodbye to a job and a centre that I had helped set up 15 years ago. But I was doing it because I wanted to gain more diverse life experiences.
After I left my job, I first decided to get certified as an executive coach from the International
Coaching Federation (ICF). But that was not all.I also decided to try my luck in Bollywood! The sheer challenge that lay in starting life in an unrelated field was something I wanted to explore. But I guess performing on stage during company annual events had something to do with my new ambition.I joined a theatre group in Bengaluru and made multiple trips to Mumbai, visiting leading casting agencies and giving a few auditions. One day, when I was in Bengaluru, I received my first casting call, only to have my excitement die down in seconds when it turned out to be a request for photograph only. They wanted to cast me in the role of a deceased father. I declined but that was when I realised that I was literally at the starting block of the film industry. Some more auditions followed, some more misses followed.
One time, I was shortlisted for an ad only to see someone else get selected. Then a day came when I was selected to play the role of the bride’s uncle in a webseries. I thought my chance had finally come. I remember landing in Mumbai like I was a conqueror. To learn, once again, that the entire scene that I was required to be in had been cancelled due to the heavy Mumbai rains. It struck me that the creative industry which predominantly works by the right brain is starkly opposite to the left brain-dominated tech industry that I had been a part of.
I was advised to shift to Mumbai and pursue an acting course. A five-months-long ‘Back to School’ journey started where I trained with batch mates who were half my age. During the course, I got a call from a casting agency about being selected as ‘Judge’ in the John Abraham-starrer Batla House that was directed by Nikhil Advani. The dates for shooting my scenes arrived and I remember it all like it was yesterday. As soon as I reached the studio, I was welcomed as the ‘Judge’ and escorted to my vanity van for make-up, costume and script reading session. Finally, the time I was waiting for had come. I was escorted to the set and seeing a full courtroom made me miss a few heartbeats. The shoot was smooth and I received encouraging feedback.
There’s a lot they don’t tell you about what working in a film entails. Each shift is 12 hours long, and everyone has to report an hour earlier than the shoot schedule. My physical fitness helped me cope well on the sets. Later, in the dubbing studio, I dubbed all my dialogues. The first time I saw myself on screen, I got goosebumps. Today, looking at all that transpired in the past one year, taking in all the rejections and failures, I can claim that I am an actor whose debut movie is out in theatres and is getting rave reviews. Though shuttling between Mumbai and Bengaluru is not a walk in the part, learning how to work in one more industry has given me belief in the adage: Dreams do come true.
By Utkarsh Rai, he is a leadership coach and consultant, author, Udyog Rattan awardee, an angel investor and an actor.
Article on Time of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/from-boardroom-to-bollywood/articleshow/71022111.cms