But if I have to play anything today, say even Major Sameer again from the beginning, I’ll do it differently.
I think that fit well with the character. I was just enjoying that moment, having a great time. If given a chance to go back to your debut role, what would you like to change or do better?ĭefinitely. Tere Naam also starred Sarfaraz Khan and Gopal Datt as Salman Khan’s other two friends, apart from Darshan Kumaar. I hope he calls me whenever he thinks he has a character for me. He said he binge-watched a show for the first time. He texted me to congratulate for The Family Man recently. We spoke about my struggle and he appreciated my hard work. Later, he threw a party in his room where I finally met him properly. He saw me and said, “Haan acha oho…” I wondered if he recognised me. I was wearing a suit and sitting behind Salman. I thought after the film, Salman bhai won’t recognise me, as I was very young then. How was the rapport with your co-stars when you got to meet or work with them again later? What else do you want from life? I was living my dream.
A guy who’s never been to any other city was traveling and shooting everywhere. I absolutely enjoyed working with Salman bhai. I took 3-4 takes for that, but finally managed it. Satish sir screamed what I was doing and I started shivering, thinking that now he’ll remove me from the film. I kept banging him like a kid who does it deliberately. I remember, I got stuck in just one scene, where I go to watch a movie with my girlfriend and bump into this man.
I didn’t know how to face the camera but I didn’t care, I thought I’ll just stay in my character and do what I have to do. In fact I was so excited, that I had to calm myself down. I even did Act One group’s plays as a lead from the very beginning. I used to perform on stage since childhood. Were you nervous? How many retakes did you take? It was a college scene where Salman comes and saves me from some goons who are hitting me. Though most of the shoot happened in Agra and Delhi, but my first scene took place in Hyderabad. What do you remember of your first day on set? Darshan Kumaar alongside Salman Khan in a still from Tere Naam. Imagine, you’ve always loved an actor, and suddenly you’re facing the camera with him. Since I grew up watching Salman’s films, it all seemed like a dream to me, as if a kid has entered some fantasy film. It was for Satish Kaushik’s Tere Naam where I had to play a college boy named Kanak Sharma, one of the three friends of Salman Khan’s character.
I gave the audition and, quite unbelievably, I got selected. I was just 13 or 14 and in grade 9th or 10th, so I refused but they dragged me. Many of my friends were going for an audition.
I was doing theatre in Delhi with NK Sharma’s Act One group. What was your first acting project? How did the project come to you? Here’s what Darshan shared about his first film and how things rolled after that.