Harsh Mayyar, the child star of award-winning film I Am Kalam, tells Aabhas Sharma he is confident hard work will help him achieve his dreams.
I t’s 1:30 in the afternoon, and Harsh Mayyar, just back from school, is pestering his mother to fix him lunch. This could be a day in the life of any 12-year-old. Except that Mayyar is not your regular school boy. He is the star of I Am Kalam, a film that has been screened at prestigious international festivals, including Cannes. The movie has won the Audience Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles, one of the 11 international awards it has scooped up, and has earned rave reviews at various international festivals.
Mayyar’s story is not too different from that of Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire's child stars. He lives in the slum of Dakshinpuri in New Delhi, and his father runs a small tent business. Seeing his talent, his maternal uncle enrolled him at the Sri Ram Centre of Arts in the capital when he was six years old. “We couldn't afford the fees but his uncle paid it as he has immense faith in him,” says Ashok Kumar Mayyar, Harsh’s father. The Mayyar house is cramped and the family of four at times struggles to make ends meet.
The young Mayyar says singing, dancing and acting is all he has been doing since he could walk. He even participated in the reality show Dance India Dance and reached the fourth round. I Am Kalam happened when he went to an audition conducted by Smile Foundation, the producer of the movie. He got a signing amount of Rs 21,000, but money doesn't matter much to him right now. He has now travelled to Amsterdam and Goa — places he had not even heard of before he acted in the movie. “I loved travelling on the plane to Amsterdam and I am grateful to Smile Foundation,” he says. At the Goa film festival, he met Nana Patekar and a host of other actors.
Directed by Nila Madhab Panda, I Am Kalam is the story of Chotu (played by Mayyar), a young boy working at a dhaba. Inspired by former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s message that anyone can change his destiny with education, he too dreams of getting an education one day and pursuing his goal.
Mayyar says he followed his director's instructions and got a lot of advice from veteran actor Gulshan Grover, his co-star. “He made it very easy for me,” he says.
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Mayyar has grand plans and wants to move to Mumbai as soon as he can. He desperately wants to meet Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan, his favourite actors. But his parents aren’t as enthusiastic about these plans right now. “We are proud of him but we want him to get a good education; and then if he makes it in Bollywood, nothing like it,” says his father.
When not acting, dancing and singing, Mayyar, like most children of his age, loves to play cricket and idolises Sachin Tendulkar. Football is another sport he loves and Cristiano Ronaldo is his favourite footballer. He says his friends at school don’t believe him when he tells them he has acted in a movie. “They have not heard of film festivals and the movie hasn’t released in theatres here, so they think I am taking them for a ride,” he laughs.
Life for him hasn't changed much — yet. He is still the same boy who dances at every function or social gathering in his locality. His teachers don’t treat him any differently and he hates history. “English is my favourite subject,” he says. He is not too bothered that his family cannot afford the comforts of life. “I will work hard to pursue my dream, and I have been taught that hard work always pays off,” he says, confidently.