Suraj Sharma, who celebrates his birthday today, tells a story about how his career-making role came to him. “I really didn’t have any sense of direction back then. I was a lost cause. A lost kid. Ang Lee and Life Of Pi anchored my life….It’s ironical that they anchored my life when all I did in the film was bob aimlessly all over the water. That kind of success and recognition takes its toll on your relationships. Kuch dost chut jaate hai peeche. Luckily I have some friends who have been with me all through my journey. Some of friends from age 12 are still with me. Then, there is my brother Sriharsh. He’s also an actor, doing theatre. My brother was supposed to audition for Life Of Pi. I was the kid brother, who had tagged along.”
Suraj studied filmmaking in New York for four years. Looking back on the Life Of Pi experience he says, “To be honest, I was so young I didn’t even know what was going. Main toh bachcha tha (I was a child). I am still not sure I can act! Koshish karta hoon ( I try). If one is put in a situation, one has to act, no? Luckily for me, I’ve managed to find the right people to work with. They make it seem as if I am doing a good job. Nothing really panned out in Bollywood. Either there were scheduling issues, or I didn’t really like the roles being offered here, so I looked towards the West. Luckily I got some really good offers there after Life Of Pi.
After a big break like Life Of Pi, Suraj didn’t know where to go. “I did have a problem after Life Of Pi. Isske baad karun toh kya karoon main (what should I do after that?). That was pretty scary. I was lucky. Something or the other turned up that kept me going. But of course, being an Indian actor I wanted to do a Bollywood film.”
Apart from Suraj, the movie also stars Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu and Adil Hussain in lead roles. Life Of Pi is directed by Ang Lee, who also won the Academy Award for this film.
