It was all going well for Adarsh Gourav, the lead vocalist of Oak Island, a progressive rock band from Mumbai. They were even on MTV Indies and were easily the most sought-after band. Individually too, Gourav was learning music at the Suresh Wadkar's Ajivasan Music Academy and had the opportunity to sing playback for Subhash Ghai and Ilayaraja as well. But then, My Name is Khan, where he portrayed young SRK, happened and life took him in a whole new direction — acting.
Since then, the 23-year-old has been working hard and attending auditions. "A large part of my so-called ‘struggling phase’ happened when I was very young, in class IX. I was auditioning and working hard, but did not realise it," says Adarsh. But by the looks of it, his struggling phase is well behind him. After his recent film Mom, Adarsh will be soon be seen alongside stalwart actor, Manoj Bajpayee, in Rukh. His role as Dhruv Mathur is of a distraught son who tries to find the reason behind his father's death. Essaying such challenging roles at this age, when the scope is usually restricted to playing a college boy and other stereotypical roles, is a feat in itself. "Quality of work matters to me. The roles that I get scared by, the ones which have risks, are more fun to play," says the Jamshedpur-born actor.
Straight up, Adarsh tells us his big problem. "The thing is, I ask a lot of questions," he says sheepishly. But the debutante director of Rukh, Atanu Mukherjee, who was subjected to these incessant questions, was extremely patient with Adarsh. But it was in this director's first feature film that Adarsh felt he was in safe hands because "of his single-minded focus. He knew what he wanted. So I was not tensed at all," says Adarsh. What Adarsh found most exciting was the opportunity to work with seasoned actors like Manoj Bajpayee. "The action just makes my reaction better," he says with gratitude.
But one look at the trailer and we know that the role is a different kind of challenge which would make anyone nervous. Not only a physical one, where he shaves his head, but an emotional one too, as he plays a boy who loses his father. The story of 18-year-old Dhruv living in a hostel, spans across two to three years. The actor not only poured over the script several times as “every time you reread a script, important details crop up which enhances your performance", but he also spoke to students living in hostels to really sink his teeth into the role.
Adarsh is also gearing up to direct a comedy play Aiyo Raju, which he directed in drama school. He was encouraged to stage the play outside so he will be setting up auditions for the play at the Thespo, a theatre festival, next month.
