At 9, Darsheel Safary was nominated for Filmfare’s best actor award alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Chak De
What did this honour mean to a 9-year old boy? I once asked Darsheel. His reply:
“I was only 9. All of 9!!! And I had no idea about camera, cinema , acting. No one from my family was part of the movies. I still don’t know why Aamirji(Khan) and Amoleji(Gupte) chose me. But there I was, playing a character whose problems were completely alien to me. So I did what any child would do in my place. I surrendered completely to Amoleji who had written the film and knew the character inside-out, and Aamirji who handled me with kid’s gloves.I later saw the film just a month ago with my parents and sister. And you know what? I could see things that I could’ve done better. Now that I am trained as an actor I know the craft. But perhaps the lack of craft made Ishan so real. I didn’t fake anything. When Ishan cried, I cried with him. Those were real tears.Looking back that was amazing….yeah! But back then I was clueless. I went through all the experiences of TZP without really enjoying it.”
No child actor in India has received the kind of adulation that Darsheel Safary did. Now at 24, he is trying to find his bearings as a mature actor. It isn’t easy. It never is easy for a child actor to make that slippery transition to adulthood. But Darsheel will make it. He has the grit.
