Punjabi singer and songwriter Guru Randhawa is all set to make his acting debut with a Hindi film called Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay with Saiee Manjrekar. The singer- actor says, just like every other Indian, he has loved and followed actors on the big screen, and wanted to become an actor too.
In this interview with indianexpress.com, Guru Randhawa opens up about starting his acting career from scratch, and shares that he started singing as a 9-year-old when he sang at weddings to earn pocket money.
Revealing how he idolised Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Irrfan Khan, Guru says, “All of us as Indians, for us, all our fantasies, the idea of love and our love stories, they have all been related to our films, to our TV basically. While growing up when I used to see these big actors on the big screen I would understand who is acting and who is a natural — not acting. I really liked the ones who were not acting.”
“Jaise Irrfan (Khan) sir, Nawazuddin (Siddiqui) sir, jaise Anupam (Kher) sir, Akshay (Kumar) is Special 26, like Shah Rukh (Khan) sir in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Salman (Khan) sir in Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijan, Aamir (Khan) sir in Dangal… so I feel when you are not acting, that’s when you are acting. Inspired by them I have also done something like that in Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay. I have tried not to act but be a natural, like how I am at this point in this interview. It is very clearly visible on the screen and now I am looking forward to the audience’s reaction also,” he added.
Guru is one of the most prominent Punjabi singing sensations, in the league of Diljit Dosanjh and others. Opening up on starting from scratch to pursue a career in acting, he says, “When I started my journey (in singing), when I came from my village, I didn’t even know how to talk in English the way I do now. Nobody knew me, I didn’t know anything. At the time I only wanted to become a singer. Because I wanted to be (a singer), I became (a singer). I knew main aur kuch kar nahi sakta hoon (I can’t do anything else). I also knew that if I did anything else my heart wouldn’t be in it because I would be stuck in someone’s world and I didn’t want to be in that situation, I wanted to create my own world.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Guru Randhawa (@gururandhawa)
“Now that I am starting (to act in) movies, I am starting from zero because anything I do from here will be a plus. Even if I crack one, I’ll not remain a zero. When you are starting something from zero, you are as good as somebody behind the camera, on the set, because just like you people don’t know him also. Imagine if I was not a singer and I was debuting as an actor, people wouldn’t know me on set then it is possible that people would know the cameraman or the spot boy more than they knew me. But it is great fun when you achieve something one step at a time because then you value what you have already achieved in the past, it also reminds you of the humbling days in your past and in turn prepares you for what you’ll face in the future and it also teaches you the importance of treating everyone well because you aren’t the most important person on set.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Guru Randhawa (@gururandhawa)
Guru then shared that he started his singing journey as a 9-year-old boy. He would sing at weddings in his village to earn some pocket money. He opens up, “My parents always wanted to see me on TV. They used to make me sing at every wedding. I used to sing at all the weddings in my village and would manage to earn around Rs 100- 150. Someone used to give me Rs 10, someone would give me Rs 20, matlab tabh se kamaai kar raha hoon main, I was in Class 3 or 4 when I started. (I have been earning from a very young age). At the time Rs 20- 30 was a big deal and I stopped asking for pocket money from my dad. My parents realised that this is what I wanted to do and I am good at it, so they never stopped me from doing it.”
“I remember when I was first going to appear on TV, I went to my village because they used to ask me when I’ll be on TV, I remember it was March 3, 2013 that I finally appeared on a Punjabi TV channel and I sat with everyone in the village and watched myself on TV. I can’t forget how proud they were of me, I felt proud,” Guru concluded.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
