Kill Actor Lakshya: Karan Johar And Nikhil Bhat Have Changed My Life | EXCLUSIVE

kill actor lakshya: karan johar and nikhil bhat have changed my life | exclusive

Lakshya is just days away from his star launch in Karan Johar’s heartstopping racy Kill. Directed by the brilliant Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, the film is all set to hit the screens on July 5. Recently, in an exclusive interview with Zoom, the actor talked about his inspiring story of a 10-year struggle to the top and shared his experience of working in Nikhil Bhat's directorial venture.

Excerpts from the interview

Lakshya, is quite evident that a star will be born this Friday?

Thank you so much sir for having me, finally, this interview is happening. I am really excited about this. So coming to your question, I don't know, I mean people are putting this label of a star on me, people are saying the new star is in the making and all, it feels good to hear, it's very exciting, I feel overwhelmed, I feel joyous, but also at the same time, it adds a lot of pressure on me I feel, and it's too early to even to be called all these things, I am just glad that people are loving my work and I just want to continue working hard and put efforts day in day out, rest we will see. If God will, I will genuinely become a star.

You have waited long to be a star?

I feel happy when I hear this word for me, because my dream was to become a star, it's been ten years since I came to Bombay, and finally, things are happening, finally, people are calling me a star and everything. So, it feels nice, but I will try to stay humble because it can really spoil you, all these labels. I will try to stay as grounded as I can, and not let these things affect me, because it can, they can easily affect somebody's mental state, I think it feels great since everything is coming together finally. Because it's been I think over ten years now, it's been over nine years now.

Tell me how you started your journey.

I started my journey with television, I did a couple of shows on TV, and now finally films are happening, and that to a film that is making all the right noise, people are talking about my film and they are enjoying the film, I left TV back in 2018. I took a sabbatical thinking that I would make it into movies, I will give myself one chance and see where it all leads cut to, I met (casting director) Shanoo Sharma and she wanted to audition me for a different film altogether, but then that didn't happen, and I think Dharma was looking for a new boy to launch, and then she got back to me after auditioning me for like six or five months. consecutively, you know we have to do another round of auditions for Dharma because they are looking for a boy, and I said why not, and I was asked to lose weight and change my vibe completely.

What did Shanoo Sharma mean by that?

I was doing the television series Porus before that, and it required me to have a good amount of body weight and a good amount of muscle on me. I was quite heavy physically, and also there were a lot of other things that were happening in my life, on a personal level, which was affecting me somewhere, so I feel that a journey started from there.

Okay, what happened next?

Then Dharma called, I had a lot of auditions, and when I met Karan sir for the first time, he said let's see where it all leads, the meeting went on for one hour, which was surprising, because I felt that if I spent an hour, with such a big person, I know he has a very busy schedule, and if he can waste an hour of his time with me if I can engage him, that means he finds me interesting, he sees something in me. I got some hope from there, then we had photo shoots, a lot of rounds of photo shoots, auditions, we had a lot of talks, on acting.

You were supposed to do another film for Dharma Productions?

Then I met Collin D’Cunha the director of Dostana, he auditioned me on many things, so all that went on, and finally, I got to know that I was a part of Dharma, and was offered Dostana that time, so I was very happy. I still couldn’t believe that I was a part of Dharma, that I was a part of Dostana. I remember I called up my mother the first day, I think it was 11.30 at night when I got to know that I was selected for Dostana, and she cried, my father also was jumping, and he was very excited, he was very happy. He felt proud of me, finally, so he said that it was very good. I still couldn't believe it. I still thought that maybe this was not true, maybe they would call me again and say, you know, give us some more time or something of that sort, because it was taking a lot of time, even after the auditions, the director Collin said give me one more day, I'll get back to you. So I felt that maybe this was a way, another way of saying no to me because it was a very big thing for me.

A dream come true?

I had never thought of it, I am a boy from Delhi and I used to live in Malviya Nagar, a very low middle-class society. I had never even dreamt of coming to Mumbai and doing films, Dharma was very far away, so now all that was coming true, all that was happening in my life, and it just felt, too good to be true, to be honest, I didn't have any words. I just thought that till I went for the shoot, I couldn't believe that all this was happening to me.

You actually shoot for Dostana 2 before it was called off?

Yes, Sir. We started shooting, and then I finally believed that it was happening for me, things were going well. We shot for 18-20 days, we went to Chandigarh to shoot, and we shot there, but then Covid happened, and after Covid happened, suddenly news came my way that Dostana 2 had been shelved.

It must have been heartbreaking.

That was a very difficult day for me because here I had left my TV career, I had taken a sabbatical, I had said no to everybody, and at that time I was getting very good offers from TV as well, so I had stopped all that, and then the news came that the film had been shut down, and at the same time, my director Collin d' Cunha called me and told me that you have come to the office and I want to talk to you.

I believe Karan Johar promised you it wasn’t the end of the road.

Yes. I went to the office, and t I met Karan sir, over there, and he assured me over there that look, it happens in films, welcome to the movies, and don't worry, we have got your back, like even Apoorva sir (Dharma CEO), Karan sir, they just said that we have got your back, we have got you covered, don't worry, we are there for you. So from there, I got motivation and confidence that if my producers are with me, then I don't have to worry, they said give us some time, we will get back to you, we will figure something out for you, but don't worry. So I got a little satisfaction, a little relief that even after the film got shut down, at least my support system was there.

Then came Heartbreak No 2?

After that I got Bedhadak. It was called something else earlier. Then we shot that also, that also didn't work, then it got converted into Bedhadak, then we shot a photoshoot of Bedhadak. Then came Kill. I was offered Kill, while Bedhadak was happening, I got to know from Karan sir only that I want you to meet Nikhil Bhat and he has a story to narrate to you and see where it leads. This was the first narration of my life, where I didn’t have to audition, so I was very excited that this is right, let's see, let's listen, we'll know what happens, so I went, I listened to the narration.

Did you sense your life was about to change?

I can't tell you, sir, I mean halfway through the script, halfway through the narration, I was just imagining myself in Amrit’s role. I was dreaming, I was in a different state altogether, and I just wanted to start the shooting as soon as I could, because it was so exciting, all the stunts, it was just dreamy, everything was very dreamy for me. So we listened to the script, and by the end of it, my first question was, when are we getting started? My simple question was, when are we starting this film, and I am a part of this film, I want to be a part of this film, so Nikhil Bhat said, we'll let you know, so he said, we'll let you know.

Then this time it actually happened?

Yes. Cut to, the process for me started. Karan Johar Sir and Nikhil Bhat Sir have changed my life. As a director, Nikhil Sir is spectacular, a dream come true for any actor. I am glad the new phase in my life and career has started with Nikhil Sir. He is brilliant beyond words.