One of the rising stars of the Punjabi entertainment industry is actor Amardeep Phogat, who has in his career starred in many hit music videos. Amardeep, who hails from an Army family, was a national-level hockey player before deciding to chase his passion for acting. In his career, he has collaborated with some of the most renowned singers in the country, including Badshah, Jubin Nautiyal, Miss Pooja, Garry Sandhu among others. In a chat with News18, Amardeep opened up about his budding career, his Hindi film aspirations, as well as a memorable encounter with late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Amardeep, who discovered his love for acting during a college play, talked about his transition from sports to acting, which changed the course of his life. “My process of transition to acting was gradual. I realised that I have knack for it when people started appreciating my work, which I did with a lot of dedication. I gradually drifted away from sports for many reasons, but I chose acting because I feel like I can live as many characters as I want. That does not happen in sports. In sports, you have to do the same thing millions of times to master it. But an actor gets to live a different life everyday. Maybe this was the life that I liked more. This is what changed me and I became an actor.”
Amardeep said he feels lucky to work with big names in the industry, but has a trick to not feel too star-struck. “I got to work with singers that I admired since my childhood, including Miss Pooja, Garry Sandhu, Badshah, Rupali Jagga. I also worked with actors Karan Mehra and Himanshi Khurrana. These are people I have looked up to for a long time. But when I decided I wanted to step into this field, my main target was to work in movies. And I always imagined that the people I have worked with would work with me on my movie. Imagining that makes it easy for me to work with the biggest stars. But yes, I am grateful that I could work with these great artists.”
His ‘Ik No Di Kudi’ co-star Himanshi Khurrana became famous after her stint in Bigg Boss 13. When asked if he would be open to participating in the reality show, he said, “I have always wanted to work in Hindi movies. Even if my videos become world famous, I will not feel like I did something if I don’t do movies. So I have been working hard for that. If I have to do or refuse a big TV show, web-series, or participate in a reality show like Bigg Boss, I will do so. I will do whatever it takes to reach my goal. I’m up to working in any medium, as long as it takes me to my goal.”
During his initial days in the industry, Amardeep had a chance encounter with Sushant Singh Rajput, who gave him tips about his career. Sharing the incident, he said, “I met Sushant Singh Rajput in my gym a little after MS Dhoni’s release in Chandigarh. I think he was promoting the movie in Chandigarh. But that day he was training with my trainer. It was my days as a struggling actor and my trainer Deep sir knew about my aspirations. He quickly called me to the gym. Sushant sir trained with me for the remainder of his time that day. We were both training for calisthenics and so we trained together. We talked and took a picture. This is a very beautiful memory. I really wanted to work with him. He was a very positive person and said a lot of good things to me. It did not feel like he was a big celebrity but my gym partner, he made the interaction so easy for me. I will never forget that half-an-hour I spent with him. And I’m very lucky to have met such a great soul.”
In an industry, where a lot of singers star in their own music videos, does Amardeep find it challenging as a non-singer? “There are struggles in every occupation. In my case, I faced a lot of resistance when I decided to leave theatre to do acting on camera. Punjabi is not my mother tongue, so that was a challenge during auditions. I still don’t think a lot about challenges. I am only focused on giving my best to all the characters I play. I don’t want anyone to see my work and think someone else could have done the role better than me. There is no use thinking about other actors and singers in the industry taking my work, because these things are not in our control,” he shared.
Amardeep will be next seen in an untitled music video with Badshah, which he is very excited about, “I have a lot of projects lined up. But there are a few which I think people will love a lot. There is this song called ‘Lover Boy,’ where I play a character out of the 80s. I also recently worked with Badshah, which is to be released soon. It is a song by Kamal Khan and I will act with Charlie Chauhan in it. The song is brilliant. It will touch a lot of hearts, I am sure. I think there are two three upcoming characters for which I am extremely excited. I can’t wait to see how people react to them,” he signed off.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.
Comments
0 comment