Adarsh Gourav: I thought 'The White Tiger' was too big and way out of my league

The White Tiger starring Adarsh Gourav Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao released on Netflix on January 22 An adaptation of Aravind Adigas 2008 novel of the same name it follows the story of Balram a young man who uses his wit to escape from the clutches of poverty and rise to the topAdarsh Gourav who played a young Shah Rukh in My Name Is Khan plays BalramHalwai in The White Tiger a role for which he has received a lot of love and adulation But how did Gourav prep for the roleIn an exclusive interview with middays entertainment editor Mayank Shekhar Adarsh Gourav shares his story right from the beginning when he was just a teenager and raring to go He says I actually hail from Jamshedpur In the 8th grade my father got posted to Mumbai and my whole family decided to relocate here Until then I was learning Hindustani classical music and one of the reasons we decided to relocate to Mumbai was because my parents thought I would have a potential career in music here Im a vocalist used to sing in a couple of bands in college but originally Im a classical singerWatch the complete interview belowHe adds Acting was completely accidental Once I was performing at Kala Ghoda festival and somebody saw me and asked me if I was interested in acting and like any other excited teenager I said yes Then I went to a photo studio with my father and got three passportsized photos clicked and sent it to them and they were like iska kya kare hum laughs They wanted a proper portfolio shoot So then I went to this studio in Juhu and got 10 photos clicked for 3000 rupees After that I started auditioningSpeaking about his first project Gourav shares My first project was My Name Is Khan where I played the young SRKOver the years I worked in a few films web series did a bunch of ads and somewhere down the line I decided I wanted to take acting seriously Cut to 2019 it was sort of difficult because work wasnt coming in even though I was auditioning a lot And then I got an audition call for The White TigerSharing how he wasnt sure of auditioning for the film Gourav says I figured it was too big and way out of my league But the reason I went for it was because I had been trying to audition with Tess Joseph casting director for a very long time and this was the first time Id got a call from her office So I thought if nothing else at least if I give a decent audition shell call me again And I had read the book as a teenager so I had some context I went and auditioned and one month later I got a call saying they wanted me as Balram and I had the most anticlimactic reaction to the news where I only said Oh thanks It was too big for me to understand what had happenedAdarsh Gouravs biggest high as an actor is the prep and he says he has the most fun while preparing for the role So how did he prepare for The White Tiger I packed my bags and went to this village in Jharkhand This was through a person who lived nearby whom I befriended and convinced somehow to take me to his house in Jharkhand First he was a little weirded out but then I explained to him that I needed to prepare for a role So we went there and I stayed for two weeks anonymously Even his family didnt know I was an actor Through him I met people in his village the elders his friends had some eyeopening experiences and tried to understand what they thought about people in the city he saysGourav adds After that I came to Delhi and thought I should work at a place like where Balram works at Balram works in a tea shop and he hates it and feels like hes meant for bigger things So I got myself a job at a tea stall in Saket where I was paid Rs 100 a day for cleaning plates and the floor and I absolutely hated it There would be days where I would be cleaning plates next to a gutter and there would be these huge bandicoots running around next to meAnd then came the day when his efforts to get into the skin of Balram bore fruit Gourav recalls One day I was going to my hotel and this guy was parking a lorry filled with construction rods next to my hotel and he saw me and said Aye idhar aa So I went up to him and he asked me Yeh uthane mein madat kar doge 20 rupaye dunga tumhe chaipaani ke liye At that moment when I hadnt even opened my mouth and this guy just called me and asked me to do this I knew that I was Balram there was no doubt about itThe White Tigerdirected by Ramin Bahrani has been making quite a buzz since its release on Netflix Based on Aravind Adigas Man Booker Prizewinning novel The White Tiger examines caste corruption and poverty in India