Dahaad’s Ankur Verma recalls giving 600-700 auditions before bagging Naagin: I used to get rejected for age, height

Actor Ankur Verma completed his studies in 2018 and since then has been auditioning for acting gigs. Verma started doing stage plays in Delhi and soon shifted to Mumbai to make a career in acting. “I had a few friends in the city who helped me with auditions and the process. I gave around 600-700 auditions before getting locked in a TV show. Because theatre and camera are a completely different ballgame together and that took me time to understand. It took me 300-400 auditions to understand that difference,” he recalls.

Currently playing the lead in a daily soap, Verma shares how back in the days getting “shortlisted” for projects also was a big deal for him. “I used to get rejected for numerous reasons, be it age, height, or even my accent,” he mentions. Verma shoots for over 12 hours for his TV show. However, he has no qualms. “It’s all about balancing your life. Even if you’re shooting for 12 hours, you still get 12 hours to sleep, eat, meditate and do yoga. It’s always about balancing and I’m expert at it so it doesn’t bother me as such,” he says.

While there are many crying foul of television’s unhealthy work environment, Verma takes this as a chance to polish his craft. “I feel for the younger actors it is okay. You have young blood and you are here to polish, whatever you are shooting today you are watching it the other day so you can correct your mistakes, make changes in your body language. TV is the best medium to get polished. For senior actors it might get it like (unhealthy) that as they have to balance between their personal life, family and work. For bachelors it is good. We are here to work and get polished. I don’t get tired as I get time in between the shots. We are just shooting for 7 to 8 hours from 12 hours and we are resting for 4 hours so it is fine,” he elaborates.

Verma also made his debut with the OTT series Dahaad. Others may find differences in working conditions on a TV set and others, but Verma doesn’t. “It is always and always about the team, if an actor throws a tantrum in any medium the schedule is bound to change. It depends on the team, the actors, the director and their collective efforts.If actors and the team members are disciplined every project can function well. I did not find any difference in the way of working as such other than the technical aspects,” he explains.