I Just Like To Stay Away From Toxic Attention.

This man has been in the eye of the storm too many times. Twinkle Dedhia catches up with the self-confessed controversy king Aditya Pancholi to find out more about where he went wrong in his career, the controversies in his life and his son Sooraj.

How did you become an actor?

I never planned to be an actor. I initially aspired to join the Indian Navy. However, one day, I was travelling in a train with my friends - I was 18 years old then and a gentleman called Mr. Bali approached me in the compartment and asked, “Would you like to become an actor?” I thought the man was playing a prank however, after a while the conversation took a solemn turn. That’s when I curiously asked, “Will I get paid for this opportunity?” He said ‘Yes!’ I forgot about it but in a few days, I got a call from Mr. Bali - he had scheduled a meeting with producer-director Bhappi Soni. Things after that escalated from there eventually in a blink.

At that time, I didn’t own any fancy clothes or shoes so I remember borrowing things from my friends for the audition. And there was Mr. Bhappi with a charming but strong personality. He saw me and declared, “Thik hai! Ab tum humare picture ke hero ho gaye.” He directly handed a cheque of Rs.5,000 to me. I didn’t even have a bank account at that point of time. When I told my parents about it, they were dazed and kept asking me for some confirmation. But my mind was gripped by try karne main kya jata hai. Anyways, I was too young to figure things out or what I wanted to do in life. I thought okay, since I was getting paid, I’ll do it and if I am successful in acting, I would continue.

I had no filmi background or had anyone even closely related to this industry. Gradually, I learnt everything after I was thrown in the midst of it. Initially it was tough because which normal kid knows how to dance, ride a horse, body postures etc. But I learnt at the cost of my producers. So I started as a blank slate which got filled with experiences with each day.