NewsX was recently joined by actor Shiv Panditt for an exclusive conversation as a part of its special series, NewsX A-list where he talked about his film ‘Khuda Haafiz’, learnings from the pandemic and more. Speaking about its TV premiere, Shiv said, “the film premiered on 27 December. I don’t remember the rating agency but I saw somewhere that for that week from 24to 31 December we topped the charts in terms of viewership all across the board. We are elated about that.”
Talking about his role in the film, the appreciation and a possible sequel, he remarked, “It was unprecedented. One was hoping for a theatrical release but around the time of the release, we felt that we should be grateful for what we are getting while there are so many problems outside. We’re happy that we got a release but what followed was unprecedented as the adulation we received from all across the board was something we did not expect and very happy about that. Our little labour of love got so much love and appreciation in terms of a sequel being announced by our producer. Only because it was an economically viable proposition and did well for the producer that he’s going ahead with part two now.”
When asked about his learnings and takeaways from 2020, Shiv replied, “The biggest learning was that we can do with a whole lot less in life whether it is materialistic things or comforts. I survived initial months of the pandemic on two pieces of clothing as I had gone to Delhi for a day for my mom’s birthday and immediately as soon as I got there the lockdown was announced and nobody in that house had my size. So until July or mid-June when the shops started opening and delivery started happening in Delhi, I was surviving on two or three pieces of clothing which I used to wear one and keep circulating amongst themselves. What I realised was that who my friends were, who are the people I wanted to reach out to and speak to. I feel in life we sort of get carried away with the rat race and materialism. But I think this pandemic has taught us to figure out what is near and dear to us.”
New Year’s resolutions are not his cup of tea. “My record of actually keeping a resolution has been three hours, I have literally broken New Year’s resolutions within three hours so I’ve stopped keeping resolutions.” Asked about how Shiv managed to exercise during the lockdown and stayed fit, he replied, “In my bedroom, there was a small little four by four kind of a corner which I used to exercise. I used resistance bands or some sort of weight at home doubled up as workout weights and a lot of these fitness websites started online training and that was pretty helpful as me and my friends worked out together. Being connected online was a big help and a big boost because otherwise without the internet, this pandemic would’ve been a whole lot worse.”
Talking about his game-changing films, Shiv said, “There have been about three or four such instances and I’ve never really realised going into the project that this would be a game-changer. It’s so funny that for the films you have a feeling ‘this is the one’ or ‘this is the role which is going to take me to the next level’, somehow, those projects have never been the ones to take me one step forward. It has always been the surprising ones that come out of the blue and people love you for them. For me, it would have to be my debut ‘Shaitan’, ‘Khuda Haafiz’ and the Netflix film ‘Loev’ and the show ‘FIR’ that I did back in the days.”
Shiv revealed the reason he became an actor. “I actually got fired from a job, was living off the severance fee and having a ball in Mumbai. Soon my money was running out and one of my colleagues from Delhi, who I had known from the theatre circuit and had become an Assistant Director in commercials, called me out of the blue and said, ‘I saw you the other day, you’re looking exactly like what we need just come and audition’. I never knew that I could actually ever be in front of the camera. I went for that audition and got that part. Shooting for the commercial was my first time facing the camera and it was such a heavily front-loaded commercial because the director was Amit Sharma, who has directed ‘Badhai Ho’. Vinod Pradhan was the cinematographer and Nitish Tiwari, the director of Dangal, was the creative head on that commercial. I had such a great experience facing the camera and realised that I have been wasting time all my life and this is what I need to do.”
When asked if not an actor what career would he most likely to pursue, Shiv replied, “trying to become an actor but if not that I don’t know what I would be, maybe just lounging around watching movies.”
What is he looking forward to in 2021? Shiv answered, “With me what happened was that I had done 4 or 5 projects in 2019 which are gearing up for release. There is a film called ‘Sher Shah’ which is close to my heart and is coming out with Dharma Productions. It’s the story of Captain Vikram Batra which is being played by Sidharth Malhotra. Maybe this year one would get to see this film. A web series of mine is also coming out in which I have worked with Prateik Babbar, Simran Kaur Mundi and Ashish Vidyarthi. It will be out in January or February.”
Sharing his success mantra and giving a piece of advice to upcoming actors Shiv said, “I would certainly like to help as many people as I possibly can because when I was climbing the ladder there were people who helped me, guided me, and took my phone calls. So, what I would like to tell the people who want to become actors is that keep the faith alive, believe in yourself and go out there to achieve something. Don’t get deterred and keep moving forward. I can’t even count the number of times that I have failed but I’m here today because I kept going.”