Actor Siddhant Chaturvedi: You can be outdone by somebody else's PR

Yudhra actor Siddhant Chaturvedi speaks to India Today Digital about his ambitions, acting choices and the PR machinery of Bollywood.

In Short

• Siddhant Chaturvedi received praise for his action role in Yudhra
• The actor said he is ambitious and wants to explore diverse roles in the future
• Chaturvedi also criticised Bollywood's focus on perception over content

Actor Siddhant Chaturvedi’s recent theatrical release, Yudhra, might have not have necessarily been a box office blockbuster, but, the actor was well received as an action hero. In times when an actor’s craft somewhere down the line has become subjective to the success of a film, Siddhant seems to be confident while he’s marching towards his goals. In a conversation with India Today Digital, Chaturvedi spoke about how he envisions his journey going forward. The actor also spoke about how the PR machinery works in the industry.

Speaking to India Today Digital, the actor said, “I’m someone who is very greedy in life. I’m also very sure about what my dreams are. I would call myself very ambitious because I have this fire within me that wants to keep trying new things. I don’t want to settle for anything less. I hope I don’t sound too arrogant while saying this, because people have started taking my confidence as arrogance, but it’s really not that. I come from a very humble background and whatever I have today, I truly cherish it.”

Further highlighting the kind of projects he wishes to do going forward, Siddhant shared, “I have not had many projects being offered to me where there was a meaty part for me. I have had a couple, but then it’s more like been there done that. My aspirations are bigger so they guide me towards a direction where I get to experiment. Nothing is an absolute no in the future, but first I want to explore all of these different avenues and come back when I’m invincible. There’s a lot of perception and PR game in play which I’m also trying to understand. You can be outdone by somebody else’s PR. Perception right now is damaging Bollywood because there’s only perception and there’s no actual gravity or content.”

Speaking about the kind of roles he’d like to pursue, the actor said, “I’m a bit ambitious like that. I want to strike a balance between credibility and commerce and this is something that I’m trying to do in every film. Also, it’s these kinds of films especially which are very difficult to crack. If you ask me, I liked Phone Bhoot and I liked Bunty-Babli also. A lot of people will come and advise you on the kind of roles you shouldn’t do, but nobody really knows the plan or the reason behind why certain films work and certain films don’t. As far as reviews go, my films must have gotten critiqued, but I haven’t had bad reviews about me as such. So, I’m very grateful to the audiences for that.”

Reacting to whether he considers himself in the league of his peers Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao, Vicky and Sunny Kaushal, Siddhant said, "I want to be in the list of actors who are credible. I also feel that I’m somewhere there already, which is why I’m getting to do the kind of projects I’m currently doing. It’s still surely a long way because I want my name to be in the top 3 choices of filmmakers. Maybe, five years from now, I want to be the first choice of all the directors. I don’t want to pollute my mind by doing a whole lot of PR just for the sake of being relevant," he signed off.

On the work front, Siddhant has Dhadak 2 in the pipeline, which co-stars Triptii Dimri.