Lakshya started his journey on television. “I did couple of shows in TV, and now finally films are happening, and that too a film that is making all the right noise, people are talking about my film and they are enjoying the film, I left TV back in 2018. I took a sabbatical thinking that I will make it into movies, I will give myself one chance and see where it all leads, and cut to, I met (casting director) Shanu Sharma and she wanted to audition me for a different film altogether, but then that didn’t happen, and I think Dharma was looking for a new boy to launch, and then she said, she got back to me after auditioning me for like 6 or 5 months consecutively, that you know we have to do another round of audition for Dharma, because they are looking for a boy, and I said why not, and I was asked to lose weight and change my vibe completely. I was doing the television series Porus before that, and Porus required me to have good amount of body weight, good amount of muscle on me, so I was quite heavy physically, and also there were lot of other things that were happening in my life, on a personal level, which were affecting me somewhere, so I feel that a journey started from there.”
Then Lakshya met Karan Johar. “ I had a lot of auditions, when I met Karan sir for the first time, he said let’s see where it all leads, and the meeting went on for one hour, which was surprising, because I felt that if I spent an hour, with such a big person, I know he has a very busy schedule, and if he can waste an hour of his time with me, if I can engage him, that means he finds me interesting, he sees something in me.I got some hope from there, then we had photo shoots, lot of rounds of photo shoots, auditions, we had a lot of talks, on acting, Then I met Collin D’Cunha the director of Dostana, he auditioned me on many things, so all that went on, and then finally, I got to know that I am a part of Dharma, and I was offered Dostana that time, so I was very happy.
Being part of a Dharma film after so many years on television , was a dream come true for Lakshya. “I had never thought of it, I am a boy from Delhi, I used to stay in Malviya Nagar, a very low middle class society, I had never even dreamt of coming to Mumbai, doing films, Dharma was very far away, so now all that was coming true, all that was happening in my life, and it just felt, too good to be true, to be honest, I didn’t have any words. I just thought that till I don’t go for the shoot, I won’t believe that all this is happening to me.I still couldn’t believe that I was a part of Dharma, that I was a part of Dostana.I remember I called up my mother the first day, I think it was 11.30 at night I got to know that I was selected for Dostana, and I called my mom first, and she cried, she cried, my father also was jumping, and he was very excited, he was very happy, He felt proud of me, finally, so he said that it’s very good. I still couldn’t believe it.I still thought that maybe, maybe this is not true, maybe they would call me again and say, you know, give us some more time or something of that sort, because it was taking a lot of time, even after the auditions, the director Collin said give me one more day, I’ll get back to you. So I felt that maybe this is a way, another way of saying no to me, because it was a very big thing for me.
This was when Dostana 2 was shelved. “We started shooting, and then I finally believed that it’s happening for me, things are going well, we shot for 18-20 days, we went to Chandigarh to shoot, we shot there, but then Covid happened, and after Covid happened, suddenly a news came my way that Dostana 2 had been shelved. That was a very difficult day for me, because here I had left my TV career, I had taken a sabbatical, I had said no to everybody, and at that time I was getting very good offers from TV as well, so I had stopped all that, and then the news came that the film had been shut down, and at the same time, my director Collin d’ Cunha called me and told me that you have come to the office and I want to talk to you.I went to the Dharma office, and I met Karan sir over there, and Karan sir assured me over there that look, it happens, it happens in films, welcome to the movies, and don’t worry, we have got your back, like even Apoorva sir(Dharma CEO) , Karan sir, they just said that we have got your back, we have got you covered, don’t worry, we are there for you, so from there I got motivation and confidence that if my producers are with me, then I don’t have to worry, they said give us some time, we will get back to you, we will figure something out for you, but don’t worry, so I got a little satisfaction, a little relief that even after the film got shut down, at least my support system was there.”
Then came Heartbreak No 2. “After Dostana 2 I got Bedhadak. It was called something else earlier. Then we shot that also, that also didn’t work, then it got converted into Bedhadak, then we shot a photoshoot of Bedhadak. Then came Kill.I was offered Kill, while Bedhadak was happening, I got to know from Karan sir only that I want you to meet Nikhil Bhat and he has a story to narrate to you, and see where it leads.This was the first narration of my life, where I didn’t have to audition, so I was very excited that this is right, let’s see, let’s listen, we’ll know what happens, so I went, I listened to the narration. Halfway through the narration, I was just imagining myself in Amrit’s role. I was dreaming, I was in a different state altogether, and I just wanted to start the shooting as soon as I could, because it was so exciting, all the stunts, it was just dreamy, everything was very dreamy for me, so we listened to the script, and by the end of it, my first question was, when are we getting started? My simple question was, when are we starting this film, and I am a part of this film, I want to be a part of this film, so Nikhil Bhat said, we’ll let you know, so he said, we’ll let you know. Karan Johar Sir and Nikhil Bhat Sir have changed my life. As a director, Nikhil Sir is spectacular, a dream come true for any actor.I am glad the new phase in my life and career has started with Nikhil Sir.He is brilliant beyond words. People are saying the new star in making and all, it feels good to hear, it’s very exciting, I feel overwhelmed, I feel joyous, but also at the same time it adds a lot of pressure on me I feel, and it’s too early to even to be called all these things, I am just glad that people are loving my work and I just want to continue working hard and put efforts day in day out, rest we will see sir, if God wills, I will genuinely become a star.My dream was to become a star, it’s been ten years since I have come to Bombay, and finally things are happening, finally people are calling me a star and everything, so it feels nice, but I will try that sir, because it can really spoil you, all these labels, I will stay humble, I will try to stay as grounded as I can, and not let these things affect me, because it can, it can easily affect somebody’s mental state, I think it feels great sir, since everything is coming together finally, because it’s been I think over ten years now, it’s been over nine years now.”
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