Sushant Singh Rajput is going to portray some never-seen-before roles in his forthcoming projects including "Kedarnath" and "Sonchiriya". The actor says that he always opts for characters that he feels he would fail in because that way it becomes a challenge for him to "outdo" himself.
"I take up roles that I feel I would fail in and then it becomes like a challenge for me to outdo myself. My philosophy of success in life is to find different ways of failing, I would fail three to four times but the fifth time when I succeed it would be my personal experience, it would help me emerge as a person," Sushant told IANS in an email interview.
Sushant is working with debutante Sara Ali Khan, daughter of Saif Ali Khan, and Khan's ex-wife Amrita Singh, in "Kedarnath" while in "Sonchiriya", he is playing a dacoit along with actress Bhumi Pednekar.
He has also signed a franchise film "Drive" and the actor says that such projects are time-consuming but he is fine investing his time on something that he is passionate about.
"Time-consuming, logically, yes! But I don't think this takes a toll on me because I like acting; this is something I don't mind investing my time in. I am so passionate about acting that if one day people stop putting money in my movies, I will put in money and prod people to watch my films, that's how much I enjoy it; so time consumed in making movies is time well used," he said.
An actor who tasted fame with television show "Pavitra Rishta", Sushant's Bollywood journey began when he landed a role in Abhishek Kapoor's "Kai Po Che!". Later, he went on to feature in "Shuddh Desi Romance", "Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!" and "M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story" which helped him find his feet in Bollywood.
So what are the life learning that Bollywood has given him so far?
"When it comes to my work, I act because it is one of those many things that I really like doing, and hence I choose those projects that help me prepare for the role. So, in that way I learn more about a thing with every new project. Hence Bollywood has given me a lot of learning, mostly that failure is just a way of pushing myself to do more and more and better myself with every new project that comes my way," he said.
"While this journey has been very exciting, my stint so far in Bollywood has imparted a lot of learning, owing to the challenging roles that I have opted for. In terms of changing me as a person, I have started believing more in presence than productivity, because I feel the more and more you are present the more productive you become," added the 32-year-old.
He also said that Indian cinema is a very evolved process with scope for a lot of creativity.
"Most definitely, I like being a part of this, since it gives me more and more reasons to evolve myself and become a better person with increased productivity," he said.
It's not just Bollywood that is keeping him busy, Sushant in partnership with serial entrepreneur Varun Mathur, has also made his entrepreneurial debut with the launch of Innsaei Ventures Pvt Ltd.
Innsaei, an ancient Icelandic word for intuition, is a first-of-its-kind venture that is working on the convergence of intellectual property and emerging technologies.
So was this something that was always there in his mind, being an engineer?
"Yes, since I come from engineering background, exponential technologies have always been of keen interest to me. I am an actor, and as an artist I like creating new things; hence it was about time that I launched my own venture that will help align the intellectual property with the emerging technologies, along with consulting and suggesting different ways to implement the same," said Sushant.
(Nivedita can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in)
--IANS
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