Be it Titli, Brahman Naman, or Lipstick Under My Burkha, Shashank Arora‘s acting journey is known for its unconventional path. Now with Made In Heaven he’s yet again talk of the town.
In a heartfelt Humans Of Bombay post, he talks about his journey and how he sailed through the ups and downs, the rejections and the heartbreaks.
From joining theater to spend time with his crush in class V, to being surrounded by supportive parents who were art lovers themselves – he says he wanted to be an actor since the age of 10.
His dreams led him to LA where he kept auditioning, prior to which he joined a theatre group in Canada, and then came back and worked as a casting agent in Mumbai.
After sailing through 3000 rejections, he landed his role in Titli.
I continued to learn–after each rejection I reflected on how I could be better. After Titli released, I got more projects & put in my all–everything I knew & learned.
There were moments that broke him and his spirit. Once, at a studio, a ‘big movie star’ looked him up and down and told him ‘Restaraunt westaraunt khol do‘-
This was my first heartbreak. But I realised I didn’t need validation, I just needed to focus. I needed to work on my acting no matter what.
But Shashank made sure to not let his learning process get hindered by rejections and accepted them as a part of life.
I still haven’t made it–but I’m going to keep moving forward. To keep getting rejected & keep learning from each heartbreak. It’s a part of this life that I chose for myself. So I’ll ride each wave of ups and downs happily until I reach the shore.
