His Opening Act

Lakshya Lalwani speaks about his latest show, The Ba***ds of Bollywood, and why he doesn't play by the newcomer script

- By PUJA TALWAR

In Bollywood, where newcomers tread cautiously, Lakshya Lalwani storms in unapologetic and confident.

At 29, he leads Aryan Khan's directorial debut, The Ba***ds of Bollywood, as Aasmaan Singh—a rank outsider, restless, ambitious, and unapologetic, who dares to push through the haloed doorways of the industry on his own terms. For Lalwani, the role is close to home. A newcomer without a filmi surname or godfather himself, what keeps him going is conviction, hunger, and the belief that sometimes the truest roles are the ones life writes for you.

The Netflix show is part of a larger journey for the actor. "When I first arrived in Mumbai, I wanted the hype for myself; I wanted to be known. I wanted to be big," he says, his words as unfiltered as his ambition. "Now that I'm on the way, it's not that I'm just playing along. I believe in this, and I work hard for it. I eat, sleep, drink this work. Every project is the biggest meal, and I'm starving, craving more. What's happening now, I tell myself, is just one per cent of what I'm meant to do."