“When I used to do theatre in Delhi there were very few Pahadis’ in the industry, but now, very often, I bump into pahadis’ from my home-state working on making their dreams come true in Mumbai. We all are an extended family out here!” Vikas Jyoti, a man who wears many hats tells me over the phone from Mumbai.
Born and brought up in Delhi, where Vikas’s grandfather came as a sixteen-year-old young lad, as part of the great male exodus from Uttarakhand and set up home. Vikas completed a course in Theatre Acting from the renowned Shriram Centre in New Delhi and was a regular in the theatre circles in the city.
In the year 2008, he moved to Mumbai to see what the mayanagri had in store for him and he was not disappointed, “in Mumbai, a friend of mine was working as a Casting Director and asked me to come and audition. Once done, I was hooked for life.”
With a decade of experience as a Casting Director Vikas has worked on television shows such as Ek Hasina Thi for Star plus, Bayhadh for Sony Entertainment to name a few. Like in all jobs, when stagnation set in he turned Creative Head for Sanjeevani on Star Plus. I ask him about his first love, acting, he fill us in, “Somehow when I came to Mumbai, I couldn’t pay much attention towards acting, but today I hold acting workshops.”
A piece of advice to those who wish to foray into the world of entertainment, Vikas Jyoti advises: “Fluent diction and acting skills is what will see you make it big!”
Talking about his Uttarakhand connect Vikas wishes to visit his home state more often. He and a couple of his friends from the industry are in talks of bringing a project to the hill-state so that not only can they bring ‘their’ talent here, but also tap raw talent which hasn’t yet got an opportunity to venture out.
For the past ten years, being in the Hindi entertainment industry has he seen a change with millennial making their way to Mumbai from Uttarakhand? Pat comes the reply, “There is a growing trend of young talent coming to the industry from the interiors of the hill-state, which is very heartening to see. These young talents are professional, disciplined, goal oriented and promising faces whom I am sure, will do very well in the years to come.”
