Struggling Days
Like many youngsters, Punkaj Kalraa left his home in Gaya, Bihar to come to Mumbai to be an actor in Bollywood when was just 19 years old. For 4 months he tried to get a breakthrough in the film industry. “I didn’t know anybody in the film industry and had no idea how to get a break here. One of my friends recommended that I should try doing voice over as I have a good voice.” He adds, “But I had no idea about voice over either. I happened to meet popular radio announcer Amin Sayani and he promised me that he will surely find me work as a voice over artist. Nothing came my way for the next 3 years. I didn’t lose hope and kept calling him time and again.”
Finally, Sayani asked him to audition for a TV serial. Kalraa immediately landed in Mumbai from his hometown for the auditions but was not selected. He somehow managed to do a voice over for a TV commercial. Kalraa recalls, “I thought that my struggling days have finally ended but I was wrong. Post the commercial, I still did not get any work for a long time. In the meantime, I decided to assist filmmaker Uday Shankar Pani.” Even after one-and-a-half years Kalraa’s remuneration was minimal. He found it extremely difficult to survive in the big city and fell horribly ill. “To survive in this city, I kept working tirelessly in spite of my deteriorating health and after a while I was bedridden and returned to my hometown – Gaya. But I got back in a month’s time because I didn’t want to give up. I thought that if I had to die, I’d rather die in Mumbai.”
Finally meeting success
Kalraa’s ‘never give up’ attitude payed off well. As soon as he got back, a friend from his theatre group asked him to audition for a TV channel and before he knew it, he was giving voice overs for Discovery and National Geography channels. “I still remember my first audition with Discovery. I kept reading pages after pages thinking that this one is a rather long audition. I stopped after a while and asked my judges if I was doing well. They laughed and said that they liked my voice and were recording me for the show,” smiles Kalraa.
Kalraa has been in this industry for 19 years now and continues to give his voice for many radio and TV commercials, TV serials and radio shows. “I don’t do voice over for films as it is not as lucrative as giving voice for TV commercials and serials,” explains 42 years old Kalraa. He continues, “In TV commercials they give you a time frame and the mood of an ad. One has to say the given lines within 20 seconds or 30 seconds and so on. Hence it is a little more challenging to do TV commercials. Lip-sync for TV commercials, serials and films, is easier.”
USP
Kalraa thinks that his ability to emote correctly and switch the tone in his voice rapidly is his USP. “My training in acting helps me control my voice. In fact I have managed to act in movies like Rock On, Musafir and Luck By Chance.”
Ambition
“I want to produce a TV serial but I don’t intend to ever give up doing voice overs. It earns me my livelihood and acting is my hobby. I want to be known as an actor who has a good voice,” says Kalraa before signing off.
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