Delhi boy Harsh Mayar, who made his debut as a child actor in the award-winning “I Am Kalam” was recently seen in Rani Mukerji-starrer “Hichki”. Now 20, Mayar, who attended Dakshinpuri’s Sarvodaya School, played a naughty student Aatish in the film. “I am from a typical government school in Delhi and “Hichki” has not even shown the 10% of what I have experienced in school. The student-teacher relationship used to be out of sync and students were absolutely naughty. I totally relate to what I did in the film,” says Harsh whose father has a catering business in Delhi.
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How has life changed after the success of “Hichki”?
I was not expecting that people will notice me in the film and will write about me. But after the film, I am getting female attention and some news portals even mentioned me as a new handsome actor. Ye baat hajam nahi ho rahi. I am getting many direct messages on Instagram and Facebook from girls and many girls have approached me for a selfie when I go out. This is different. I look like a regular guy and I never got so much attention in my life. Maybe that is because of Yash Raj banner that has produced many talented artistes. I do not know where it is coming from. As of now, I am enjoying it.
Who introduced you to acting?
My family could not afford to actually allow me to join theatre but my maternal uncle introduced me to theatre at a very young age. I joined Sriram Centre under Lalit Pokaria ji and did many workshops with him. Seeing my performances, other groups also asked me to join them and I largely did backstage for three years until I acquired the confidence to be on the main stage. My first role on stage was of a monkey in a play called ‘Chalo Kahin Aur Chalein’ and it was too small that even my mother was not able to recognise me (laughs). Acting, for me, is a way of life now and if I I had not been picked by Yash Raj Films, I would have been a junior artist or a production boy as I cannot do anything else now. I even did a role of a junior artist for 200 rupees in a show for Doordarshan.
How did “I Am Kalam” happen?
I auditioned for many films including “Chillar Party” and many other television programmes but I did not get something that I wanted. For “I Am Kalam”, I was not selected by a casting director but I was sent by a coordinator to the production office. I just went inside Neela Madhab Panda’s office and he did a quick audition and I was selected. I was just a twelve-year-old child with a little experience on stage when the shoot started but it changed the way I see acting and it started a new life for me.
You seemed to be very raw and simplistic in your tone. Do you think that a raw tone helped you in bagging both “I Am Kalam” and “Hichki”?
You reflect what you experience. I may sound more mature for my age but I come from a strata of society where I have seen so much around me and my experiences made me realise that I have to be what I am. I came to Mumbai only two years back and before that I was under Tom Alter sir and we used to do Khalil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’ along with Amit Bahl ji. He always used to say connect your soul with your work and you will see a change in yourself.
You were a part of “Aadha Full”, a much-acclaimed show on Doordarshan. How does that help you in reaching to the larger audience?
I consider myself lucky that I got a chance to be a part of a project which was produced by BBC and UNICEF and it was a learning experience for me. I keep getting messages from villages mentioning that they created email accounts to talk to me and even people from the class who cannot afford satellite television connection from certain regions in Mumbai keep meeting me because of the love for the show. You hardly get a chance to do something creative in a daily soap. It gave me the freedom to explore myself as an actor. I realised that I can do comedy as well as I do serious roles. It was shot in a way that somebody from urban aas well rural centre could identify with it. Had it been released at some other platform, and I can say that even on Netflix or Amazon, it would have been a hit as its production quality can match the quality of any other show.
