‘My father had advised me to join television instead of films’, says Aayush Sharma!

Majorly known as superstar #SalmanKhan’s brother-in-law, #AyushSharma has his own identity too. He hails from a political family where his grandfather and father are big names in Himachal Pradesh politics. His grandfather Sukhram ji is known for revolutionising telecom industry and his father too has done a lot of work for locals of Himachal. But Ayush did not want to be in politics and landed Mumbai when he was just 17 years old. He says that he does not think that he has anything to offer politically. He married Arpita Khan, Salman Khan’s youngest sister, and a few years back debuted films with ‘Love Ratri’. Now Aayush Sharma has come out of his comfort zone and will be seen in an action avatar in ‘Antim : The Final Truth’. This film is a remake of a successful Marathi film, ‘Mulshi Pattern’ which was based on real incidents.

Aayush is playing a local gunda of Pune and has a company of his brother-in-law Salman Khan who’ll be playing a sikh cop and the tussle between them could be the highlight of the film. For ‘Antim’ Aayush has worked on his physique to match up with Salman Khan’s chiseled body and is grateful that so early on in his career he gets to share screen with such a huge superstar. When our correspondent Keerti Kadam asked Aayush Sharma during tete-a-tete, ‘Did you watch the original movie, Mulshi Pattern?’, Aayush answered, “Yes. Saw it once. I made it a point to not copy anything what Om Budhkar (who played his character in the marathi film) had put across. Obviously I wanted to play it in my own style. Though it’s an adaptation, a lot of things are changed to make it look like a Bollywood film. Again this film’s styling and treatment is different. And I didn’t want to copy Om, otherwise how would I bring novelty to the character of Rahulya?”

About his reaction when he got to know that Salman too will be part of this film, he said, “Actually, I was busy in working on my body for the role. But the pandemic struck and everything was standstill. I was sceptical that my hard work shouldn’t go to waste. But I kept on working out, for three years actually. Meanwhile the script was getting spruced up and I found the the inspectors’ role has been shaping up very well and it’s length too was bigger as compared to the marathi film. I told Salman about it and enquired who’ll be playing that role and pat came an answer, ‘Me’. I thought he was joking, but later realised that it was true. Now my anxiety has increased many fold because I had to face Salman on screen. But Bhai assured me and helped me get over nervousness and am happy that my role has shaped up pretty well. Now there was an added pressure on me because Mahesh Manjrekar’s ‘Vaastav’ put Sanju Baba in a different league. But I hope Rahulya works for me as Raghu worked for Sanjay Dutt.”

Aayush Sharma is not anxious because he’s playing a grey shade role. He says that it diminishes box office pressure on him. Also he is aware that grey lead roles are being appreciated by the audiences world over. ‘I treat Salman as my elder brother. He has groomed me for the last eight years, and makes himself available anytime. But when I was facing the camera with him I realised that opposite person is not my Bada Bhai but a superstar. Again due to his presence I will get visibility across the nation and internationally too because Salman Khan is a huge brand.” Aayush’s parents were not very confident that he’ll make it big in films. He said (laughingly), “My father once told me, when I announced my decision to join films, ‘You are not as tall as Amitabh Bachchan, you are not as good looking as Dharam ji, you do not have a physique like many actors and there’s nothing to boast about your voice. Then how you’ll survive in the film industry? It’s a wrong profession for you. If you are so keen on acting try your luck in television. Then, at least, we’ll get to see you everyday on screen.”

‘Antim : The Final Truth’ is being produced by Salman Khan films and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar which stars, apart from Salman Khan and Aayush Sharma, talented artistes like debutant Mahima Makwana, Nikitin Dheer, Jashu Sengupta, Sachin Khedekar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sayaji Shinde, Upendra Limaye etc. The film is slated for release on 26th November, ‘21 in theatres and Aayush Sharma is keeping his fingers crossed.