When the seed of Bollywood Dairies was sown, director K.D. Satyam toyed with number of chapters that he could unfold out of his own BollywoodDiaries. One such story that was stuck in his mind was that of a call center professional who wouldn’t leave the passion for Bollywood behind him. So much so that despite a steady job and a stringent 9 hour work schedule, he still took out time to not just live his passion but also give auditions in numerous television reality shows in order to be noticed.
While he was in the process of choosing the right face who could turn into his character of Rohit, the wait was over once he came across Salim Diwan, and pronto roped in the debutant for his film.
“For me, the character of Rohit is really important since he represents the young India which is so passionate about Bollywood,” says Satyam, “There are countless youngsters who want to step into Bollywood. They want to be an actor, and then one day become a star. They carry dreams in their eyes to own a Mercedes and buy a bungalow. Other than the passion of facing the camera, it is the by-products that come with being a star that are attractive to them.”
Since he needed the right youngster to portray these emotions on screen, Salim Diwan was the perfect fit.
“Reason being that in him, I saw this genuine love for acting,” says Satyam, “He comes from a big business family. He came down to Mumbai and then also did an acting course with Kishore Namit. He is rich and he can afford to splurge. Still, he is so grounded and goes out for auditions. He may not be a conventional hero per se but it is his passion that keeps him going. He is not doing films for money; he just wants to come on screen.”
While Satyam observed that Salim wasn’t here for the by-products of being a star but was instead focused on being an actor, he was also bowled over by the youngster’s commitment as the preparations began.
“In real life, it is rare to find people who actually come with genuine love for cinema. For Salim it was all the more challenging since in Bollywood Diaries, he is playing a bad actor. Trust me, for an actor to do some bad acting in front of the camera is a very difficult thing. That by itself is a good act and Salim scores full marks to be portray it so very well with great conviction,” smiles Satyam.
Well, now that’s some word of appreciation for sure.
