Becoming Yogi Adityanath

In an exclusive phone interview with The Free Press Journal, the man who played Yogi Adityanath spoke to us about apprehensions about playing him, career struggles, and more

- Kabir Singh Bhandari

Actor Anant Vijay Joshi bagged a role which will go on to be one of the most talked about in his career, that of playing Yogi Adityanath in Ajey - An autobiography of a Yogi, inspired by Shantanu Gupta’s book The Monk Who Became Chief Minister.

But the movie, directed by Ravindra Gautam, and which recently released in theatres, isn't the only one because of which he is in the news. Two of the films he was in, 12th Fail and Kathal, found themselves associated with this year’s National Awards. Personally, though, my favourite role by him is that of Golden in the romantic thriller web series Ye Kaali Kaali Ankhein, where he is truly entertaining with his comic timing and chirpy personality. In an exclusive phone interview with The Free Press Journal, he spoke about whether he was apprehensive about playing Yogi Adityanath, struggles in his acting career, and much more. Excerpts:

Q. There must have been some apprehensions about the fact that you are playing a politician as prominent as him?