Actor Aiman Kalia recounts his journey to acting: Every day is a struggle
Acting was something that he always aspired to do, says actor Aiman Kalia. Aiman, who is currently seen in Ghum hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin as Yash and was in series Jamnapaar, Chiraiya, says that he was always inspired by Bollywood.
“Since childhood, I was a huge Bollywood fan, you know, a Shah Rukh Khan fan, a Bollywood film enthusiast, very filmy. And I always felt that I either wanted to become an actor or a pilot. These two things were always on my mind. But that was more of a childhood thing,” he says.
He adds, “But when I grew up, I took PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Math), and I thought I would go for engineering because when you are in that environment in 11th and 12th grade, everyone around you is talking about going to IIT, cracking the JEE exam, appearing for the mains and the advanced exams, getting into VIT, BITS, and other engineering colleges. So you start thinking the same because you don’t have clarity at that time about what you really want to do, and you just go with the flow.”
However, he thought of acting once again. “When my board exams were over, the thought struck me that I wanted to be an actor because I had done a lot of street plays, theatre, and performances during school assemblies. Though it wasn’t professional, I had done quite a bit in school. I felt I should continue with it, and then I became very serious about it. And then I went up to my parents and dropped the bomb that I wanted to do acting. Initially, they were shocked and surprised. A lot of Indian parents have this mindset that if you’ve taken science, the next obvious step is engineering, followed by an MBA. It’s like there’s this predefined track you’re expected to stick to, and stepping off it feels like you’re messing up the plan. But I convinced them a lot, and eventually, they agreed,” he says. He adds, “Once they did, I started thinking that I would take up acting as a career. That was the moment I really decided to start this journey.”
However, it was not easy, he says, “I feel everyday is a struggle, whether it’s while entering the industry or while working in it. But initially, the struggle was not even knowing whom to approach. If you heard a film or show was being made, you wouldn’t even know which casting director to go to or how to reach them. The struggle was that the right auditions never reached us, so I couldn’t even audition properly.”
He adds, “Back then, the issue was standing in line first, and only then would they tell you whether you fit the role or not and what the audition was even for. Even then, it was somewhat sorted. But then COVID happened. When that hit, everything shut down, no more lines. Actors were completely lost about where to go and what to do next. And this isn’t just my story; it’s the story of so many people I was in touch with. Established actors would get direct calls from casting directors, but newcomers like me who had just entered the industry didn’t even know how to get those casting directors’ numbers. And even if, after a lot of research, you managed to get their numbers, you’d keep messaging them, but they wouldn’t reply because there were so many actors like me sending their profiles every day. So I guess cracking the audition came later; the initial struggle was just figuring out how to get those auditions in the first place.”