A talk with Sumedh Mudgalkar and you will come across the actor to be extremely knowledgeable, wise, with a level-headed mindset and above all, blessed with utmost humility and grace.
Yes, and for a man who has achieved a lot so young in age, this wisdom and resilience surely come from his grounded upbringing and learnings from his past and present experiences.
Sumedh who portrays the role of Krishn in Star Bharat and Swastik Productions’ RadhaKrishn is very popular for his craft and versatility. His vision as a thinker and writer on social media has also gained him a lot of appreciation and praise.
In an exclusive conversation with IWMBuzz.com, Sumedh Mudgalkar talks about his journey as an actor, on his intellectual thought process and the importance of being grounded.
Excerpts:
How do you feel during this lockdown phase with no shoot happening?
Well, I have been shooting for RadhaKrishn for one and a half years now. It was all about shoots from morning to night. Now, being at home and away from the shoot is a different feeling altogether. We used to be completely occupied, with the opportunity of meeting people every day. We have been used to working hard always. Now you are left to spending time with yourself. But to tell you frankly, I am appreciating this change. I think it is for our own good and for the benefit of people around us.
You have had a successful career as an actor. What have your learnings been to sustain this constant growth?
I like this question (smiles). To be honest, I feel that a certain kind of growth actually challenges the flaws in you. For example, at some point in time, no matter what you are, everyone gets to deal with failure, something that you will never wish for anyone. You tend to question yourself, as to why I am not getting this in return. I think it is time to learn to keep your emotions to yourself. You have to make yourself understand what you are. You have to choose your own path and realize the passion that has taken you to the place you stand-in.
For me, if you ask, these one and half years have brought in a lot of changes in me. And I will say that this has been a special time for me. I also like this schedule of working hard, learning something every new day, and getting better as an individual. I have realized with experience that staying humble is really hard. But I have also found out that staying humble is very important for one’s growth. So I practice this each and every day and appreciate what I have got in life and thank my fans for all the love they shower on me. All of this makes my life a little better. It makes my smile a little more realistic.
So how do you go about your life?
First and foremost, I make myself understand that all of what I am having today is temporary. I do remind myself that there was a day when I never had anything of this. We always face new problems and new challenges in our life. It makes a person wiser when he remembers how he was a few years back, and I also tell myself the same. I think about the people who helped me climb my graph. Whenever I feel lost, I tell myself that there is a long way to go. I think about the ways in which I will approach my future. I thank my parents, my fans who have given me this day.
I have found out that staying humble is very important for one’s growth. So I practice this each and every day and appreciate what I have got in life and thank my fans for all the love they shower on me.
Is Sumedh Mudgalkar more philosophical or practical?
I don’t know how to answer this. I just know one thing. In life, you do something; you don’t get to do something. You get a few things, but you don’t get some. I am happy at times, and I am sad too at times. For example, if say I got scolded last year, and I felt bad for that. But today, when I visualize this past, I don’t have the same feeling. Yes, I think about the action of the teacher, and I also see how I handled that situation. So I think if we rise a little beyond our emotions keeping in mind what is right and wrong, it will be for our own benefit.
You are presently playing a mythological character, Krishn in Star Bharat and Swastik Productions’ successful show RadhaKrishn. Tell us about your state of mind when you are on set and when you are off it? Is there any kind of divinity or discipline that comes in you when you are in your character?
For me as a person, I feel every emotion a little more when I am in the character. I feel certain calmness when I am in my character, and when I am busy playing out my scenes. I got the opportunity to play Lord Ram’s character in my show for a brief phase. I felt so good from within at that point in time. The research and understanding lies in imagining Krishn to be a normal human like you and me and reacting like how he would react. This is the precision and clarity with which our Producers Siddharth Kumar Tewary and Rahul Tewary have come up with for the show RadhaKrishn.
Has this thought ever crossed your mind that going ahead, you might not be accepted in a certain genre of work or roles after playing this mythological character?
This is a little complicated. I feel that I will not take any decisions instantly. But yes, as an actor, I will like to play characters that will make me think more. And to tell you, I have earlier played the psychopath character in the film Manjha. As I said earlier, we should always know what we are and stick to it. There were many people who initially advised me when I was taking up RadhaKrishn, that if I do this and it goes really well, I might not be accepted in other roles. So yes, I have heard this before. So yes, when I am offered another opportunity to choose my next character, I will have to look beyond my graph and see if I can push myself and do something extraordinary. I am learning all of this art and let’s see if I am able to succeed.
Who is your inspiration when it comes to doing what you want?
I don’t have anyone inspiration. I love to watch and observe many people. I get to understand people from my shows, from my earlier shows, from Bollywood, and learn something from what I see in them. During this quarantine period, I have watched quite lot of good work.
There are many people who have been supporting and following me for five years now. They have seen every journey of mine and have supported me throughout.
You have achieved quite a lot at such a young age. What will your message be to youngsters who seek fandom, about the importance of being grounded even when successful? In simple words, what is the mantra to not let success get into your head?
The approach is to smoothly go with the flow and finetune to all the changes that happen in life. There are many people who cannot be successful. I have seen such people in life. I think people take rejections and failures too harshly. Make yourself feel that you can go ahead and achieve greater levels in life. If you have all the patience to wait for your time even after facing failure, you might get another chance to prove yourself. But the approach is to whether want it or not. If you want it, you need to believe in yourself and wait for that chance. Even I lost confidence initially and felt that acting is not my cup of tea. At the end of the day, it is your mindset, God’s grace and the determination on whether you want to go ahead or not. I believe that struggle will finally give its fruit. Also, life teaches you to stay humble. My elders have always told me to stay humble. There was a time when I wasn’t humble. But today I am humble and that’s what counts.
You are inspirational on social media with your videos and thoughts. How does that happen?
My family is away from me, and I stay alone here. So when I am into my thinking mindset, I write about it. When people like it, connect to my thoughts and like what I write, it motivates me to write more. If I have anything in mind that really needs to be written, I write about it.
What are your thoughts for the years to come as an actor?
I always go with my instinct and do not say anything that comes to my mind. I want good mental peace for myself, for my parents, for my fans and for my close ones. I only believe in being grounded and put in my best towards my work.
What are your basic likes and dislikes as a person? Your fans will want to know this.
I like playing games, I like music. I always like to do something creative. I play my guitar. I don’t like to sit idle for a long time.
So that means you are an explorer in the mind…
Yes, I love it when I keep my mind occupied in something or the other constructively.
What is your message to your fans?
There are many people who have been supporting and following me for five years now. They have seen every journey of mine and have supported me throughout. They have seen the change in me and my growth as well as failures too. I feel bad at times that I do not reply to every fan of mine. I love them a lot is what I want to say.
